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The Handbook consists of 5 PARTS who are covering all aspects of the VHF community:
• PART 1: IARU-R1 VHF& up Organisation
• PART 2: Bandplanning
• PART 3: Contesting
• PART 4: Technical and operational references
• PART 5: archive
This handbook is updated with the new VHF contest dates and rules and some typo’s in the rest of the
handbook. Those changes are highlighted in yellow.
The recommendations made during this Virtual General conference are highlighted in turquoise
73 de Jacques, ON4AVJ
Secretary VHF+ committee (C5) IARU-R1
CONTENT
PART 1: IARU-1 VHF & UP ORGANISATION
ORGANISATION 17
Microwave managers 25
Note. 25
3400-3410MHz allocation 28
DB6NT 40
S53MV 40
Introduction 43
General 43
European table of frequency allocations 43
1.5.4 DATV AND EXPERIMENTAL DATA USAGE IN THE 436-438 MHZ BAND (VGC 2020) 53
Objective 76
Definitions 76
Date of contests 77
Contest sections 77
50 MHz Contest: 77
70 MHz Contest: 77
145 MHz contest: 77
435 MHz Band: 77
1.3 GHz, 2.4 GHz, 3.4 GHz, 5.7 GHz, 10 GHz bands and for the Millimetre group (the combined group of
amateur bands above 10 GHz): 77
Operating 77
Contacts 78
Acceptable examples when using a secondary method: 78
Unacceptable examples when using a secondary method: 78
Definition for a valid contest QSO: 78
Type of emission 78
Contest exchanges 78
CW, SSB or FM/PM modes 78
MGM modes 79
Scoring 79
50 and 70 MHz CW/SSB only, 145 MHz and UHF/Microwave Contests 79
50 and 70 MHz MGM Contests 79
Entries 80
50 and 70 MHz CW/SSB only, 145 MHz and UHF/Microwave Contests 80
50 and 70 MHz MGM Contests 80
Stations eligible to win a prize 81
Judging of entries 81
Awards 81
Section winners: 81
Overall winners for UHF/Microwave contest: 81
Millimetre group 81
Goal 82
Responsibilities 83
Contest 83
Introduction 87
Objective 88
Rules 88
Categories: 88
145 MHz band: 88
435 MHz band: 88
1.3 GHz, 2.4 GHz, 3.4 GHz, 5.7 GHz, 10 GHz bands and for the Millimetre group (the combined group of
amateur bands above 10 GHz): 88
Introduction 89
Introduction 110
The RSQ (Readability Strength Quality) reporting scale for digital modes: 116
Readability (% of text) 116
Strength 116
Quality 116
The MOS (Mean Opinion Score) reporting scale for digitized speech: 117
Background 118
Proposals to Clarify and Standardise the IARU Locator, including higher Accuracy positioning 120
Definitions 122
Background: 122
Operation 135
Status 136
Introduction 137
PART 5: ARCHIVES
BEACONS 151
IARU R-1 VHF and µWave beacon list (deleted in Landshut 17) 151
BANDPLANNING 152
CONTESTING 155
History 155
Organisation 155
Procedure 156
Information 156
Organisation 156
Timing 156
Flow chart contest evaluation 157
Rules 158
All-band sub-regional contests 158
Microwave contest 158
Experiment with scoring system: Locator bonuses 159
Introduction of locator bonus in contests 159
Information exchange on contests 159
MGM Contest exchange procedures (deleted by the contest working group 2021) 167
Standard Exchange 167
Responding to CQ (as sent in Tx6 above) 168
Notes: 168
History 172
PART 1
IARU-R1 VHF & UP ORGANISATION
ORGANISATION
Constitution of the IARU Region 1 VHF/UHF/Microwaves Committee
The following articles in the IARU Region 1 Constitution and Bye-laws relate to the permanent IARU
Region 1 VHF/UHF/Microwaves Committee
In the Constitution:
N.B. Article A4.11 allows the IARU Region 1 Executive Committee to invite the Chairmen of the
permanent HF and VHF/UHF/Microwaves Committees to their meetings - as has been the custom since
1975.
In the Bye-laws:
N.B. Section B.1. of the Bye-laws deals with the procedures for organising a General Conference.
Especially the articles dealing with the submission of papers containing proposals and of papers only
containing information merit attention!
Delegates to the IARU Region 1 VHF/UHF/Microwaves Committee should be national VHF Managers
and/or members of their national VHF Committee or equivalent body.
For the office of Chairman of the IARU Region 1 VHF/UHF/Microwaves Committee an amateur who is not
a national VHF Manager nor a member of a national VHF Committee or equivalent body is eligible,
provided he has previously been a member of the IARU Region 1 VHF/UHF/Microwaves Committee, but
only for a period of six years from the time he is no longer the VHF Manager or member of the VHF
Committee or equivalent body of his society1.
At the IARU Region 1 Conference in Noordwijkerhout (1987) the following recommendation was adopted:
In view of the heavy work pressure and many items to be discussed the IARU Region 1
VHF/UHF/Microwaves Committee should have annual meetings (i.e. two meetings between successive
IARU Region 1 General Conferences) (1).
A list of members of the IARU Region 1 VHF/UHF/Microwaves Committee is given in section Ig.
1
Wording brought in accordance with the IARU Region 1 Constitution adopted at the IARU Region 1
Conference in Noordwijkerhout (1987).
VHF Handbook 9.00 17/180
IARU-R1
Apart from the contributions IARU Region 1 and its officers make to the above work, IARU Region 1
specifically represents the amateur interests at, amongst others, the Conference of European Post and
Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) and their European Radiocommunications Office (ERO) in
Copenhagen, as well as at the European Union (EU) in Brussels.
The coordination of the representative work done by the IARU Region 1 is in the hands of the member of
the IARU Region 1 Executive Committee, Don Beattie G3BJ
The most important tasks of the IARU and their regional organisations are:
to defend, extend and upgrade the status of the frequency segments allocated by the ITU to the Amateur
Service and the Amateur Satellite Service;
to coordinate the orderly use of the frequency bands allocated to the Amateur service and the Amateur
Satellite Service by the ITU and the national Administrations by careful bandplanning.
The supporting role of the IARU Region 1 VHF/UHF/Microwaves Committee with respect to the above
tasks is clearly set out in the Terms of Reference of this Committee, given in PART 1 section 1.7 and 1.8 .
The defence, extension and management of the allocations above 30 MHz has been the subject of the
following recommendations adopted by the IARU Region 1 on the basis of proposals brought forward by
the IARU Region 1 VHF/UHF/Microwaves Committee. At the IARU Region 1 Conference in Scheveningen
(1972) the following recommendation was adopted:-
Member societies are strongly recommended to establish and maintain contact with their national
Administrations at a policy level to ensure that the case for amateur radio in the VHF/UHF/Microwaves
bands is properly known and can effectively be presented by each Administration at future frequency
allocation Conferences. VHF Managers are to see that the Councils of their societies pursue this policy
and will ensure that the Secretary of IARU Region 1 is kept informed of developments with national
Administrations.
At the meeting of the VHF Working Group in Amsterdam (October 1976) it was agreed that all societies
should nominate a person to act as focal point for the reception and distribution of microwave information
and material. The names of the persons to act in this way should be sent to the Secretary of IARU Region
I. Furthermore, any changes in focal points should immediately be advised to the Secretary of Region I. All
focal points would investigate the possibility of starting microwave columns in the journal of their national
society.
Since the above recommendations were adopted, in several societies these focal points have developed
into full-fledged Microwave Managers running their own microwave column in their society's journal.
During sessions of the IARU Region 1 VHF/UHF/Microwaves Committee at Region 1 Conferences as well
as meetings of the VHF/UHF/Microwaves Committee in the years between Conferences a sub-committee
of Microwave Managers pre-advises ( when requested by the meeting ) on matters concerning microwave
frequencies. For this purpose the frequency of 1 GHz has been adopted as the lower microwave boundary
(Brighton, 1981).
Satellite coordinator
Amateur Satellite activities are predominantly taking place in the VHF, UHF and Microwave bands. The
Region 1 VHF/UHF/Microwave Committee therefore, has to take the Amateur Satellite Service into
account in all aspects of its work.
In Region 1 (and in other Regions as well) specialist groups in many countries deal with amateur satellite
matters and the communication between the (representative of) the member societies and those groups is
not always optimum.
Within the IARU there exists a Satellite Advisor function but his tasks are mostly oriented towards
worldwide coordination. The VHF/UHF/Microwaves Committee, therefore, decided at its meeting in
Lillehammer 1999 to create the function of Region 1 VHF/UHF/Microwaves Satellite Coordinator.
The tasks of the coordinator are:
To liaise
1. with all groups which specialise in amateur satellite matters in Region 1 countries,
2. with the IARU Satellite Advisor and
3. with all other relevant people/organizations.
To inform the committee about all satellite matters relevant to its work by:-
4. Maintaining the Amateur Satellite section of the VHF Managers Handbook,
5. Contributing to the VHF Newsletter
6. Contributing to meetings of the committee.
The coordinator, therefore, should preferably
be an active and recognized operator in the amateur satellite service
have a good knowledge of English ( speaking and writing)
have the support of the IARU member society in his country ( preferably being a member of his societies
delegation to meetings of the committee)
Beacon coordinator
See point 5
Propagations coordinators
Ionospheric Propagation Coordinator - t.b.f.
Auroral Propagation Coordinator - t.b.f.
Tropospheric Propagation coordinator - t.b.f.
Records coordinator
The VUSHF DX Records Homepage has been moved to http://dxrecords.vushf.dk (Varna 2014)
Repeater coordinator
His task is to keep the information up to date about IARU-R1 repeaters on the IARU website. National
societies should provide their information to him. (Varna 2014)
Microwave managers
This is the situation after the virtual Conference, to see the actual situation, please look at the IARU-R1
website.
Note.
If a member society has not nominated a Microwave Manager, the VHF Manager may be assumed to be
also responsible for microwave matters.
The following actions should be taken to fully underpin the IARU volunteer team effort
addressing the potential WRC-23 related threats to the amateur services in the 1240-
1300MHz band. Coexistence between the amateur and amateur satellite services and the
radio navigation satellite service has become a global ITU-R topic relevant across the
entire IARU:
• Member Societies actively take action to engage with their national administration to promote the IARU
position on the development of the regional CEPT and global ITU-R regulatory deliverables.
• Member Societies promote the views of their national amateur community with their national administration.
• Member Societies actively engage in setting the national and regional brief for the regulatory and ITU-R
preparatory work that will take place in all RTO’s across all Regions.
• Member Societies proactively engage with their national administration and RTO’s regarding progress of the
work regionally and globally.
• Member Societies remain vigilant and ready to react to any early proposals to downgrade (or remove) the
national amateur services allocations in their respective countries ahead of the conclusion of the regulatory
work.
• Member Societies widely publicise the amateur community views (both the IARU position and their national
amateur community) – e.g. national newsletters etc.
• Member Societies take these actions urgently.
• Member Societies should report back to IARU R1 SRLC on a regular basis or as appropriate.
50 MHz Band
That work start immediately to review the 50 MHz band plan, in the light of emerging new requirements
(including digital wideband applications), with the intention to present proposals for a new bandplan to the
General Conference in 2020, including the impact of any outcome from WRC19.
3400-3410MHz allocation
National Societies should take all necessary steps in seeking 3400-3410MHz allocations on a Secondary
non-interference basis as quickly as possible.
All Societies should explicitly include the Amateur Satellite Service (both SAT-Earth and Earth-SAT) in
such requests on the basis that many years of terrestrial and EME operations (notably in the CEPT area)
have not resulted in interference reports from other users.
National Societies and IARU–R1 should collaborate more closely to assist those Societies who in the past
have not been able to achieve such allocations.
Societies should collectively obtain a critical mass of national allocations so that footnotes in regional
allocation tables can be extended or acquired that include the Amateur Satellite Service
IARU-R1 to prioritise this band and to take active steps in support of these goals
In such bands, continuous beacon or testcard transmissions are a particular problem and should be
phased out in favour of short regular transmissions or transmit-on-demand.
The Amateur Satellite Service has different and less onerous notification and registration requirements
than most other Satellite services. However it has been noted that many satellites have not actually been
notified to the ITU at all. This has led to their records of frequency usage, which are often examined by
other services, providing an incomplete picture to our possible detriment. This section shows the correct
procedure which should be followed for all such projects.
It should be noted that this ITU procedure should proceed in parallel with the IARU Frequency
Coordination process which is still required. All member societies are requested to familiarise themselves
with this procedure and to encourage/ensure that satellite builders in their country follow the process.
Procedure
The Potential Amateur Satellite Builder
• A potential amateur satellite builder is required to inform their National Telecommunications
Regulatory Authority about their planned satellite project.
Wishing to stimulate the growth of the Amateur Satellite Service in an orderly manner, the Administrative
Council strongly supports the following goals:
• the encouragement of a wide dynamic range of activities stimulating training through increasing
intellectual challenge
• the stimulation of young people in schools and universities to develop an interest in amateur radio
through participation in amateur satellite activities
• where allowed, the provision of emergency services, especially to parts of the world that are less
technologically developed, and
• the adoption of a "code of practice" that ensures the use of amateur frequency allocations by satellites
in accordance with the spirit and ethos of amateur radio.
The Administrative Council resolved that:
• Member societies shall make Administrations more aware of the value and achievements of the
Amateur Satellite Service.
• Satellites operating within amateur frequency allocations shall carry payloads and experiments that
are relevant to, of interest to and available for participation by radio-amateurs worldwide.
• Operational frequencies of amateur satellites shall be in accordance with all applicable IARU band
plans
• The use of higher frequency bands by amateur satellites shall be encouraged
Function
To keep the Administrative Council informed on all technical and operational aspects of the amateur-
satellite service, and to provide advice and assistance to enable the Council to adopt appropriate policies,
and also to better inform the satellite community of the IARU.
Appointment:
The IARU Satellite Adviser shall be appointed by the Administrative Council and the position, the
appointment and these terms of reference shall continue until the next meeting of the Administrative
Council, which may or may not reconfirm this position, the appointment and these terms of reference.
Tasks:
• Report to the Administrative Council, providing information as to all developments in the satellite
area, including all planned amateur satellites.
• At the request of the Administrative Council, provide technical and operational advice to assist the
representation of the amateur-satellite service to the ITU.
• And attend such meetings of the satellite community as are appropriate.
• Represent generally the IARU to the satellite community and particularly to new or non-AMSAT
satellite groups.
• To consult with and liaise with the satellite community as appropriate.
• To appoint any assistants that may be required.
Recommendation CT08_C5_Rec02
(Paper CT08_C5_03 Support for Satellite Frequency Coordination)
Member Societies are recommended to promote the proper use of amateur frequencies consistent with the
international Radio Regulations, with a view toward maintaining the integrity of the amateur service and its
frequency.
Recommendation CT08_C5_Rec22
(Paper CT08_C5_16 Increased Amateur Satellite Service 2 Metre Usage)
The presence of interfering non-amateur signals in the 145.80-146.00MHz part of this band, in many parts
of the world, is well documented. To prevent the retransmission of interfering terrestrial signals, satellites in
the Amateur Satellite Service that plan to use the 145MHz Amateur band for transponders, are
encouraged to use this band for downlink (satellite to ground) modes only, regardless of modulation type
Recommendation CT08_C5_Rec25
(Paper CT08_C5_17 3400MHz Amateur Satellite Allocation)
• National Societies should take all necessary steps in seeking 3400-3410MHz allocations on a
Secondary non-interference basis as quickly as possible.
• All Societies should explicitly include the Amateur Satellite Service (both S-E and E-S) in such
requests on the basis that many years of terrestrial and EME operations (notably in the CEPT area)
have not resulted in interference reports from other users.
• National Societies and IARU–R1 should collaborate more closely to assist those Societies who in
the past have not been able to achieve such allocations.
• Societies should collectively obtain a critical mass of national allocations so that footnotes in
regional allocation tables can be extended or acquired that include the Amateur Satellite Service
• IARU-R1 to prioritise this band and to take active steps in support of these goals
Recommendation CT08_C5_Rec37
(Paper CT08_C5_37 Amateur Satellite Service Spectrum - Vienna 2007)
It is recommended that all IARU Region 1 societies request that the following additional Amateur Satellite
Service bands be studied and considered, perhaps as a package, for a future WRC agenda item:
• 50-51 MHz
• 1240-1250 MHz
• 2300-2330 MHz
• 2390-2400 MHz
• 3400-3410 MHz
• 5650-5670 MHz (Currently Earth-To-Space only)
• 10350-10400 MHz
The aim of repeater networks has been defined as follows (see chapter 3.1., Principles of bandplanning):
• FM repeaters provide a communication service to mobile amateur-stations (including hand-held
equipment). In some cases they may be installed to aid the accessibility of stations in mountainous
areas.
• They are not intended to make DX contacts possible, and hence their coverage under normal
propagation conditions should be limited.
• The number of repeater stations installed should be determined by
• the required regional coverage
• the expected number of intended users
• FM repeaters should not regularly be used as local chat channels for fixed (home) stations. This
interferes with their defined use.
Careful bandplanning is required (section 2), as well as timely agreement on the technical specifications of
repeaters and equipment used with repeaters (section 7).
The problem of mutual interference (overlapping coverage pattern) makes it mandatory that in neighbouring
countries the allocations of locations and especially of frequencies are coordinated.
For this reason at the IARU Region 1 Conference in Miskolc-Tapolca (1978) the following recommendation
was adopted:
Coverage measurements shall be made for repeaters planned to be installed. In cases of
international boundary crossing the VHF Managers concerned should co-ordinate repeater
coverage.
A suitable way of presenting the expected coverage, set out in document M/T 59, submitted by ÖVSV, was
recommended for this purpose (see PART 2 section 5.2.3)
As far as Austria is concerned, the VHF Manager entered all areas from where repeaters might be
operated on a map, so that all repeater problems could be easily be discussed and solutions found. A copy
of such a map, a description of the methods used to prepare such a map, as well as proposed general
rules for the use of repeaters are given below.
Beacon - A station in the Amateur Service or Amateur-Satellite Service that autonomously transmits in a
defined format, which may include repetitive data or information, for the study of propagation,
determination of frequency or bearing or for other experimental purposes including construction."
It is not intended that this document should specify the exact purpose of any individual beacon, its power
level or the number of beacons in any country, as this should be agreed within the national society
concerned. It is also not intended to be applied rigorously to experimental beacons or beacons with a
special purpose. It should however apply to the vast majority of VHF/UHF/Microwave beacons for
propagation monitoring purposes, as designated by the beacon sections of the bandplans.
Coordination procedure
The existing requirement for co-ordination of regional beacons will be retained. For non-coordinated
beacons the beacon proposal should be agreed with the national society (with consultation with
neighbouring societies where appropriate) and a provisional frequency chosen.
If the beacon has an ERP of greater than 10W then the frequency should be submitted to the IARU Region
1 VHF beacon co-ordinator to check for potential interference problems. Societies should provide regular
and frequent updates to the IARU R1 Beacon coordinator. Beacons or changes to beacons which are not
notified to the coordinator forfeit their arbitration rights in any coordination dispute.
Local Beacons:
In the microwave bands, local beacons, which should be 10W ERP max, may preferably be placed in the
x.750-x.800MHz range of the relevant narrowband segment, adjacent to, but outside of the exclusive
propagation beacon segments. In this range, the lower powers will permit greater frequency reuse. This
permits traditional propagation beacon frequencies to be used more efficiently and minimise cases of
local/mutual interference. National societies should inform the IARU R1 Beacon coordinator of such local
beacons and national bandplan use.
Transmission mode
Amplitude or Frequency shift keying (A1A or F1A) may be used according to the scheme described in
PART 3 Section 11. The beacon radiates on its nominal frequency during the period where no information
is transmitted. It then moves to "space", 250/400Hz below and then keys back to nominal (“mark") while
transmitting its information. In this way the transmission sounds like A1A in a SSB receiver set to receive
USB.
Frequency spacing
All coordinated and notified beacons should operate within the beacon segment of the band plan and be
on a frequency which is in accordance to the table below. In bands above 1.3GHz, half the frequency
spacing defined below be used as an offset in frequency coordination disputes (Vienna 2007).
At the 2014 IARU Region-1 General Conference in Varna 2014, the migration of Region-1 50 MHz
beacons was reviewed and noted as progressing (with good propagation reports), but not yet achieved
completely. The deadline for migration of the remainder was extended to 31 December 2015, noting that
the default for QSY is usually +400 kHz unless a specific request is sent to the IARU Region 1 beacon
coordinator.
Furthermore it was also agreed that:
• The coordination of new beacons below 50,4 MHz shall no longer be possible, except for the
members of the Synchronised Beacon Project (SBP)
• The Synchronised beacons will now use – ‘once every 5 minute’ slots, instead of ‘once every 4
minutes’
Member Societies are invited to participate in the pilot programme for the SBP. The paper VA14_C5_14
will be used as an implementation guide and an initial pilot scheme demonstration. The societies are
invited to consider the best locations for SBP (e.g. an existing site or new strategic site). Region 2 and
Region 3 will be informed of progress should they wish to start implementing their own beacon multiplexes.
With respect to the amateur activities on the VHF/UHF/SHF bands the following recommendations are
relevant.
At the IARU Region 1 Conference in Folkestone (1961) the following resolution was adopted:
It is recommended that the Executive Committee of IARU Region I issue a certificate to those
amateurs within Region I who make first QSO's by unusual modes of propagation, such as
meteor-scatter, sporadic-E and moonbounce.
At the IARU Region 1 Conference in Malmo (1963) the following additional recommendation was
adopted(2):
The Chairman of the VHF/UHF/Microwave Committee is authorized to request the IARU Region 1
Executive Committee to issue Region 1 certificates for special VHF/UHF/SHF performances.
DB6NT
At the interim meeting of the IARU Region 1 VHF/UHF/Microwaves committee in Vienna 1995 it was
decided to propose to the Executive Committee to issue the Region 1 Medal to Michael Kuhne, DB6NT:
for his outstanding contributions to the promotion of microwave activities. He not only is a keen
microwave dx-er on all bands up to 245 GHz but has published his designs, allowing other
amateurs to construct microwave equipment.
The executive Committee supported this proposal and the Medal and Certificate were presented to DB6NT
by PA0EZ at the 1995 Friedrichshaven International Meeting
S53MV
The Executive Committee of IARU Region 1 has at its April 1999 Meeting decided to offer the IARU
Region 1 Medal to Matjaz Vidmar, S53MV:
in recognition of his contributions to amateur radio in the field of satellites, microwaves and digital
communications.
The medal and certificate were presented by PA0EZ to representatives of the Slovenian Society at an
official ceremony at the Region 1 Conference in Lillehammer 1999.
2
Wording brought in accordance with the IARU Region 1 Constitution adopted at the IARU Region 1 Conference in Noordwijkerhout (1987).
The number of awards and certificates, at present in circulation, is not in the best interests of amateur
radio. It is recommended to place the matter before the IARU with a view to the preparation of a list of
awards in good standing which could bear the official approval of the IARU. (IARU Region 1 Conference in
Folkestone, 1961)
In order to enable VHF Managers/VHF Committees to inform the active VHF/UHF/Microwaves amateurs in
their countries on the available awards and certificates, the following recommendation(3) was adopted at
the IARU Region 1 Conference in Malmö (1963):
All VHF/UHF/Microwaves Managers are requested to send a list of the VHF/UHF/Microwaves certificates
available in their country, with all relevant data, to the Chairman of the VHF/UHF/Microwaves Committee,
in order to enable him to issue a complete list.
Note
In view of the two first recommendations set out on this page, it should be self-explanatory that some
screening has to be applied, and that only worthwhile certificates/awards, as e.g. issued by member
societies, should be listed.
In order to make it easier for amateurs to apply for a certificate or award, at the IARU Region 1 Conference
in Malmö (1963) the following recommendation was adopted:
Bearing in mind the difficulty and expense of sending QSL cards with applications for certificates it
is recommended that all member societies of IARU Region shall issue certificates on the
production of a declaration signed by the Traffic Manager or QSL Manager of the member society
in the residence country of the applying amateur.
In view of some questions that arose with the counting for "Number of Countries Worked" certificates, at
the IARU Region 1 Conference in Brussels (1969) the following recommendation was adopted:
VHF/UHF/Microwaves Certificates: For the issue of certificates concerning countries worked the
ARRL DXCC list of countries shall be used.
3
Wording brought in accordance with the IARU Region 1 Constitution adopted at the IARU Region 1 Conference in Noordwijkerhout (1987)
PART 2
BANDPLANNING
VHF Managers should give maximum publicity to the adopted band plans. In view of the many newcomers,
regular repetition of the publication of the band plans is advisable.
Member Societies, and particularly their VHF Managers or VHF Committees, should strongly promote
adherence to the adopted band plans by all VHF/UHF/Microwaves amateurs in their country.
The following notes are referring to the Usage column in the band plan. Operators should take notice of
these agreements which are made for operating convenience, but no right to reserved frequencies can be
derived from a mention in the Usage column or from the following notes.
The users should be aware that this those band plans are generic for all members states of IARU-R1.
They can be more detailed in some Member states due to practical reasons end/or legislation. Therefore
we advise to look also to the bandplanning of the country of the operator.
In order to develop European common positions and proposals to harmonise within Europe the efficient
use of the radio spectrum, CEPT endorsed in 2002 the principle of adopting a harmonised European Table
of Frequency Allocations and Applications (also called the ECA table) to establish a strategic framework
for the utilisation of the radio spectrum in Europe.
You will find this Table on: https://www.ecodocdb.dk/download/2ca5fcbd-4090/ERCREP025.pdf
This table contains different footnotes, numbered as ECAxx
Some of them are important for us (see the footnotes in the bandplanning).
We give here a summary of the most important ones:........
Some of them are important for us( see the footnotes in the bandplanning).
We give here a summary of the most important ones:
• ECA9 - CEPT administrations may authorise all or parts of the band 69.9-70.5 MHz to the amateur
service on a secondary basis
• ECA17 - In the sub-bands 5755-5765 MHz, 10.36-10.37 GHz, 10.45-10.46 GHz the amateur
service operates on a secondary basis. In making assignments to other services, CEPT
administrations are requested wherever possible to maintain these subbands in such a way as to
facilitate the reception of amateur emissions with minimal power flux densities.
• ECA23 - In the sub-bands 5660-5670 MHz (earth to space), 5830-5850 MHz (space to earth) and
10.45-10.50 GHz the amateur-satellite additionally operates on a secondary and non interference
basis to other services. In making assignments to other services, CEPT administrations are
requested wherever possible to maintain these allocations in such a way as to facilitate the
reception of amateur emissions with minimal power flux densities.
• ECA35 - In Europe the band 75.5-76 GHz is also allocated to the Amateur and Amateur Satellite
services.
More info can also be found on the website European Communications Office
50.000
50.000 - 010 Region-1 *
50.010 - 020 Region-2 *
50.020 - 030 Region-3 *
Telegraphy exclusive
500 Hz * Reserved for Synchronised Beacon Project
(except Beacon Project)
50.050 CW future International centre of activity
50.090 CW Intercontinental centre of activity
50.100
50.100
International preferred
50.100 - 130 Intercontinental section
50.110 Intercontinental centre of activity (a)
2700 Hz SSB
Telegraphy
50.130 - 200 international section
50.150 International centre of activity
50.200
50.200
General usage
2700 Hz SSB 50.285 for crossband
Telegraphy
50.300
50.300
50.305 PSK Centre of activity
MGM
2700 Hz
Narrowband 50.310 - 320 EME centre of activity
Telegraphy 50.320 - 380 MS centre of activity
50.400
50.400
MGM Beacons exclusive
1000 Hz
Telegraphy
50.500
50.500 50.540 - 580 Simplex FM/DV Internet Voice Gateways
- All Modes
50.600-50.700 Digital communications (e); including
50.700 50.630 DV calling
50.700
12kHz FM / Digital voice 50.710 - 50.890 FM/DV repeater output channels
50.900
50.900
For wideband digital experiments – See Note (e)
- All modes
51.200
51.200
12kHz FM / Digital voice 51.210 - 390 FM/DV Repeater Input channels
51.400
51.400
51.410 - 590 FM/DV Simplex
Footnotes:
a. The intercontinental DX calling frequency 50.110 MHz should not be used for calling within the
European part of Region 1 at any time.
b. deleted
c. deleted
d. Embedded data traffic is allowed along with Digital Voice. DV users should check that the channel
is not in use by other modes
e. Experiments using wider bandwidth digital modes may take place in the 50 MHz band within the
50.5 - 52 MHz segment where local conditions permit, on a shared basis that does not cause
interference to other users (including narrowband/beacon use and repeater inputs)
• Options for this include around 50.6, 51.0 or 51.7 MHz
• Recommended maximum bandwidths for such usage are:-
50kHz in the 50.5-50.7 segment
200kHz in the 50.9-50.2 segment
500kHz in the 51.4-52.0 MHz segment
See also wideband experimentation usage notes below
f. In those Region 1 countries where 52 - 54 MHz (or parts thereof) is allocated, its use should be
planned on the basis of up to 4 x 500 kHz blocks which may be sub-divided to suit digital
applications.
g. Amateurs using digital transmission methods must also ensure that their transmissions do not
spread beyond band/segment edges.
Usage Notes
a) FM: for technical specifications of FM telephony and channel numbering, refer to the relevant parts
of this Handbook.
b) Repeaters
In those Region 1 countries where it is allowed to set up repeaters on 50 MHz, the indicated channels
are recommended in order to establish a commonality. Provision is made in the band plan for two
options based on a common set of input channels:-
The more recent recommended use of the lower output (-500kHz) option for voice repeaters, avoids
the overlap near 51.9 MHz with experimental and other emerging wideband applications. The lower
output frequencies may also be easier for obtaining regulatory permissions. As per IARU-R1
recommendations, CTCSS should be used for FM Repeaters and Gateways.
c) Wideband Experimentation
• Spectral re-growth can be a major issue when operating digital modes. Close attention should
be given to amplifier linearity to control the final transmitted bandwidth and avoid such regrowth
affecting adjacent users.
• Member Societies should encourage such 50 MHz digital experiments to support innovation
and development of the band; and report results back to IARU Region 1
70.294
70.294
70.3125 Digital communications
70.3250 Digital communications
12kHz FM CHANNELS,
12.5 kHz spacing 70.4500 FM calling
70.4625
70.4750
70.500 70.4875 Digital communications
Notes: BANDPLAN
Footnotes:
a. Refer to Beacons Chapter for coordination of beacons (PART 1 Section 5)
b. Usage by operators may vary due to restrictions on national allocations
Notes: Usage
Footnotes: none
144.025
144.025
144.150
144.150
2700 Hz Telegraphy & SSB 144.300 SSB Centre of activity
144.400 & MGM
144.400
500 Hz Telegraphy Beacons exclusive (b)
MGM
144.490
144.491
500 Hz Personal weak signal
Experimental MGM
MGM Beacons
144.493
144.500 144.500 Image mode centre (SSTV, Fax,..)
144.600 Data centre of activity(MGM,RTTY,..)
144.750 ATV talk back
20 kHz All mode (f)
144.794
144.794
144.800 APRS
145194
12kHz FM / Digital voice (i) Space communication (p)
145.206
145.206 145.2375 FM Internet Voice Gateway
12kHz FM / Digital voice (i) 145.2875 FM Internet Voice Gateway
145.3375 FM Internet Voice Gateway
Notes: BANDPLAN
The following notes are part of the officially adopted IARU Region 1 bandplan, and all member societies
should strongly promote adherence to the recommendations made in these notes.
General:
i. In Europe no input or output channels of telephony repeaters shall be allowed to operate between
144.000 and 144.794 MHz.
Footnotes:
a. Telegraphy is permitted over the whole band, except in the beacon band; Telegraphy exclusive
between 144.000 - 144.110 MHz. (except satellite output downlink to earth)
b. Refer to Beacons Chapter for coordination of beacons in the beacon sub-band
Section-
c. For technical standards on FM and repeaters PART 3 section 8.2
If there is a real need for more repeater channels it is recommended that Societies or Repeater
Groups consider setting up a repeater system on the higher frequency band(s).
Further to this subject the following recommendation was adopted in. De Haan, 1993:
For the numbering of FM telephony channels, see annex 2 to this section.
d. Established simplex frequencies on repeater output channels may be retained.
e. In view of the important public relations aspect of amateur satellite activities, it was decided at the
IARU Region 1 Conference in Miskolc Tapolca (1978) that:
i. AMSAT will be allowed to use the band 145.8 - 146.0 MHz for amateur satellite activity.
ii. This decision was re-confirmed at the IARU Region 1 Conference in Brighton (1981).
iii. see also footnote p
f. No unmanned stations shall use the all-mode segment, except for linear transponders and ARDF
beacons. (Tel Aviv 1996, San Marino 2002)
i. This segment is for simplex use only with no Digital Voice gateways. Embedded data traffic is
allowed along with digital voice. Digital Voice users should check that the channel is not in use by
FM.
j. Amateur Satellite Linear Transponder down-links. Subject to agreement with Region-2 and 3
432.000
432.050 Telegraphy centre of activity
500Hz Telegraphy (a)
MGM 432.088 PSK31 centre of activity
432.100
432.100 432.200 SSB centre of activity
Telegraphy
2700Hz SSB 432.350 Microwave talkback centre of activity
MGM
432.400 432.370 Meteor scatter centre of activity
432.400 Telegraphy,
500Hz MGM Beacons exclusive (b)
432.490
432.491
500 Hz EMGM Experimental MGM
432.493
432.500 432.500 NEW APRS FREQUENCY
432.975
LORA (p)
434.000
434.000 ALL MODES 434.450 - Digital communications channels
12kHz (c) ATV (c) 434.575 (by exception !! ) (i) (m)
434.594
434.594
434.600 - Repeater Output Region 1, 12.5 kHz
12kHz (c) ALL 434.9875 spacing, 1.6 or 2.0 MHz shift (p)
MODES
434.600 – Repeater Input only in the UK, 25 kHz
434.981 434.975 spacing, 1.6 MHz shift.
435.000
Satellite service
436.000
436.000 Satellite Service
and 437.000 DATV/Data centre of activity
438.000 DATV/Data(c)
438.000
438.025 - Digital communications channel
438.175 frequency (g)
438.200 -
438.525 Digital communications repeater
channels (g) (j) (l)
ALL MODES 438.550 -
438.625 Multi-mode (j) (k) (l)
439.800 --
439.975 Digital communications link channels
440.000 (g) (j)
Footnotes
a. Refer to Beacons Chapter for coordination of beacons in the beacon sub-band
See Section 5.1.1
• As of 1-Jan-2021 Analogue ATV and SATV is no longer permitted in the 430-440 MHz band. ATV
operators are encouraged to use the microwave allocations where available, but may use narrower
bandwidth DATV modes in the 436-438 MHz band. See 1.5.4 for further guidance for DATV and
experimental Data usage. In case of interference between DATV/Data and the Amateur Satellite
Service, the Satellite Service shall have priority.(VGC2020)
The words "Sub-regional (national) bandplanning" appearing in IARU Region 1
VHF/UHF/Microwave bandplans mean the following:
In bands and sub-bands not available throughout Region 1, band-planning should be coordinated on a
sub-regional basis between the countries where those bands and sub-bands are allocated to the Amateur
Service. The words "national bandplanning" refer to bands/segments which are available only in a single
country (such as the 70 MHz band allocation), or only in a few widely separated countries.(Torremolinos
1990)
b. Not used
Embedded data traffic is allowed along with digital voice. Digital Voice users should check that the
channel is not in use by other modes
Notes: Usage
The following notes are referring to the Usage column in the bandplan. As already set out in the
introduction to section IIc, in the right amateur spirit operators should take notice of these agreements
which are made for operating convenience, but no right to reserved frequencies can be derived from a
mention in the Usage column or from the following notes ( except where ‘exclusive’ is mentioned).
Footnotes
f. The HB/DL/OE wide-shift repeater system, already in use for a long time, is valuable with a view to
a better utilisation of the whole band. Hence IARU Region 1 endorses the system.
This also applies for the French repeater channel system, also adopted by the Netherlands and
Belgium, which IARU Region 1 supports as a useful measure to fill a hitherto unused part of the
band.
g. In the Usage section of the 435 MHz bandplan the following frequency segments have been
designated for digital communications:
i. 430.544 - 430.931 MHz Extension of the 7.6 MHz repeater system input
for digital communication
438.194 - 438.531 MHz Output channels for the above
ii. 433.619 - 433.781 MHz
438.019 - 438.181 MHz
iii. 430.394 - 430.581 MHz For digital communication links
439.794 - 439.981 MHz For digital communication links
With due regard to the band allocated to the Amateur Service by the national Administration, the interests
of other users, possible interference from e.g. ISM, the specific digital technique or system to be
accommodated etc., a sub-regional, or national choice may be made within the above segments.
h. In those countries where 433.619 - 433.781 MHz is the only segment of the 435 MHz band available
for digital communications, modulation techniques requiring a channel separation exceeding 25 kHz
should not be used. If different or incompatible use of this part of the frequency spectrum in
1296.000
500Hz Telegraphy 1296.00-1296.025 Moonbounce
MGM
1296.150
Notes: BANDPLAN
The following notes are part of the IARU Region 1 bandplan for this band, originally adopted during the
IARU Region 1 Conference at Noordwijkerhout (1987), and all member societies should strongly promote
adherence to the recommendations made in these notes.
At the IARU Region-1 Conference at Cavtat (2008), Recommendation CT08_C5_27 was adopted which
designated the 1240.0-1240.75MHz segment as an alternative narrowband section and makes a series of
recommendations for replanning other parts of the band for DATV and Digital Voice & Data
Footnotes
a. deleted
b. Refer to Beacons Chapter for coordination of beacons in the beacon sub-band
Section
c. In countries where 1298 - 1300 MHz is not allocated to the Amateur Service (e.g. Italy) the FM
simplex segment may also be used for digital communications.
d. Bandwidth limits according to national regulations.
e. Embedded data traffic is allowed along with digital voice. Digital Voice users should check that the
channel is not in use by other modes
During contests and band openings, local traffic using narrow-band modes should operate between
1296.500 - 1296.800 MHz.
Notes: BANDPLAN
a. The words "Sub-regional (national) bandplanning" appearing in IARU Region 1
VHF/UHF/Microwave bandplans mean the following:
In bands and sub-bands not available throughout Region 1, band-planning should be coordinated on a
sub-regional basis between the countries where those bands and sub-bands are allocated to the Amateur
Service. The words "national bandplanning" refer to bands which are available only in a single country
(such as the 70 MHz band allocation), or only in a few widely separated countries. (Torremolinos 1990)
b. In countries where the ALL MODES segment 2322 - 2400 MHz is not allocated to the Amateur
Service, the FM SIMPLEX & REPEATER segment 2321 - 2322 MHz may be used for digital data
transmissions. For the specification of FM see section VIb
c. In countries where the narrow-band segment 2320 - 2322 MHz is not available, the following
alternative narrow-band segments can be used:
• 2304 - 2306 MHz
• 2308 - 2310 MHz
• 2400 -2402 MHz
ALL MODE
3400.800 3400.750-3400.800 Local Beacons (d)
3400.800
BEACONS ONLY (e)
ALL MODE
3400.995
3401.000
ALL MODE
3402.000
3402.000
ALL MODE SATELLITE DOWNLINKS (a) (c)
3410.000
3410.000
ALL MODE
3475.000
Notes: BANDPLAN
Footnotes:
a. CEPT footnote ECA17 no longer includes 3400-3410 MHz. However the CEPT ECA Table (ERC
Report 25) still includes amateur service as a secondary allocation in 3400-3410 MHz
b. EME Centre of Activity has migrated from 3456 to 3400.1MHz to promote harmonised usage and
activity
c. Amateur Satellite Service is allocated in 3400-3410MHz in Regions 2&3 and in some countries of
Region-1.
d. 3400.750-3400.800MHz may be designated for Local Beacon use (10W ERP max) by National
Societies.
e. Refer to Beacons Chapter for coordination of beacons in the beacon sub-band
Notes: BANDPLAN
Footnotes
a. Societies are urged to inform their members that stations should preferably be able to operate in
both narrow-band segments.
b. 5760.750-5760.800MHz may be designated for Local Beacon use (10W ERP max) by National
Societies.
c. Refer to Beacons Chapter for coordination of beacons in the beacon sub-band
d. Any wideband system shall protect narrowband applications, which have priority
10.369
ALL MODES
10.370
Notes: BANDPLAN
Footnotes
a. In those countries where the narrow-band segment 10368 - 10370 MHz is not available, the
segment 10450 - 10452 MHz is suggested as an alternative narrow-bandwidth segment.
b. 10368.750-10368.800 may be designated for Local Beacon use (10W ERP max) by National
Societies.
c. Refer to Beacons Chapter for coordination of beacons in the beacon sub-band Section
24.250
Notes: BANDPLAN
Footnotes
a. Deleted (Varna 2014)
b. 24048.750-24049.800MHz may be designated for Local Beacon use (10W ERP max) by National
Societies.
c. Refer to Beacons Chapter for coordination of beacons in the beacon sub-band
ALL MODES
47.088
47.088
47.088200 Narrow band center of activity
47.090
47.090
ALL MODES
47.200
77.500
77.500
77500.200 MHz: Preferred NB centre of activity in countries
outside the CEPT area (non-preferred / preferred) (c)
2700 Hz All Mode
AMATEUR SATELLITE SERVICE
77.501
77.501
78.000
ALL MODES
(not preferred)
All Mode
81.500
Notes: BANDPLAN
Footnotes
a. Preferred in those CEPT countries having implemented ECA35.
b. Between 77.5 and 78 GHz the amateur and amateur satellite service have a primary/exclusive
status and between 75,5-76 GHz a primary status through ECA footnote ECA35 in CEPT
countries, while the status is secondary in the remainder of the allocation. The all mode section in
the secondary segment should only be used in case the preferred segment cannot be used
c. Preferred in those countries not having implemented ECA35
122.251
122.251
All Mode
123.000
134.928
134.928
134.930
134.930
ALL MODES
136.000
136.000
141.000
Notes: BANDPLAN
Footnotes
a) Between 134 and 136 GHz the amateur and amateur satellite service have a primary/exclusive
status, while the status is secondary in the remainder of the allocation.
The all mode section in the secondary segment should only be used in case the preferred segment
cannot be used
248.000
248.000
AMATEUR SATELLITE SERVICE
ALL MODES &
NARROW BAND MODES
248.001
248.001
250.000
Notes: BANDPLAN
Footnotes
a. The all mode section in the secondary segment should only be used in case the preferred segment
cannot be used
b. Between 248 and 250 GHz the amateur and amateur satellite service have a primary/exclusive
status, while the status is secondary in the remainder of the allocation
Table 1 Irish 40–44 MHz (8 metre) Band Plan for Amateur Service
45.000
60.100
69.900
ITU Regulations strongly recommend that Radio Services use their frequency allocations rationally and
economically. With an eye to the retention of the frequencies allocated to the Amateur Service and the
Amateur Satellite Service it follows that full use should be made of all amateur bands, including the shared
bands (Recommendation adopted at the IARU Region I Conference in Stresa, 1956).
Particularly the use of the UHF/Microwaves bands should be encouraged by stressing UHF and
Microwaves technique in amateur magazines and by organising contests, meetings, conferences etc.
especially aimed at stimulating UHF and Microwaves activity (Recommendation adopted at the IARU
Conference in Brussels, 1969).
Basis
Many of the transmission modes and techniques currently used in the Amateur Service, such as ATV,
RTTY, FAX, repeaters, satellites etc. are not or not fully compatible. To make orderly communication on
and efficient use of the amateur bands possible, bandplanning is mandatory.
In accordance with the IARU principle of using Primary and Primary Exclusive allocations in preference to
secondary allocations, it is recommended that Amateur and Amateur Satellite weak-signal operation
should, wherever possible, use the 500 MHz segment 75.5 GHz to 76.0 GHz as per CEPT Footnote
ECA35 in the European Frequency Tables. Region 1 societies in CEPT countries should encourage their
administrations to implement ECA35 as soon as possible. The IARU bandplan should be amended
accordingly. (Davos 2005)
In the bands above 76 GHz, for example 241 GHz, users are encouraged to use the Primary Exclusive
(Davos 2005)
Coordination process:
Repeater frequency allocations in neighbouring countries within Region-1 should be coordinated in case
their coverage pattern would overlap the border.
Coordination with the national society first.
For cross-border disputes to co-ordinate with the neighbouring societies relevant coordinators.
In the event of escalating to the national regulator that all the affected societies to be informed. This
should only be the last resort if steps one and two fail.
The primary purpose of beacons is the checking of propagation conditions, both for every day amateur use
and for special propagation research projects. When allocating exclusive segments of a band to beacons
regard should be given to:
Reasonable frequency separation is needed to allow for, for instance, auroral spread;
Guard bands at the edges of the segment are desirable to prevent de-sensitization of receivers used
for beacon projects due to strong local traffic on adjacent frequencies.
Some definitions
At the IARU Region 1 Conference 1996 (Tel Aviv) it appeared useful when amending bandplans to use the
following definitions:
An unmanned station is a station in the Amateur (Satellite) Service which transmits while the license
holder of the station is not present.
A network station is a station in the Amateur Service which has a permanent link to one or more
network stations.
The top-level allocations for all radio services are determined by the ITU Radio Regulations. This includes
the amateur service and amateur satellite service. Following the 2012 World Radio Conference (WRC-12),
a copy can be found on the ITU website (www.itu.int ) at:-
http://www.itu.int/pub/R-REG-RR-2012
A WRC is held approximately every four years. Any changes to an allocation must be agreed by the
administrations of ~190 countries, many of which are grouped into Regional Telecommunications
Organisations (RTOs) as per the list below. IARU has only observer status at ITU. The WRC process
involves lengthy studies for each agenda item and numerous meetings at national and regional level in the
years leading up to a WRC. Each WRC also agrees the agenda items for the next WRC.
In order to defend existing amateur allocations or acquire new ones, Societies must wherever possible
engage with the spectrum managers in their National Regulatory Authority. In addition they need to build
working relationships with persons in other concerned organisations, where frequency bands are shared
with another primary and/or secondary user(s).
CEPT is an example of a RTO and is an association of 48 countries. This makes CEPT the largest RTO
and is an influential block of votes at ITU. Proposals for any current or future agenda items at WRC require
CEPT administrations to agree a European Common Proposal well in advance of a WRC. A result of the
increasing influence of RTOs and other regional bodies is that amateur matters require the early and
ongoing support of Societies to engage with their administrations (either in CEPT, or others such as the
African or Arab spectrum groups).
For example, at the 2014 Varna General Conference, an early IARU Region-1 proposal to CEPT for a
future WRC-18 agenda item for harmonised allocations at 1.8, 50 and 3400 MHz was discussed.
It was recommended that it be strongly supported by Member Societies, who in turn would need to
engage with their administrations. If successful this would be discussed and agreed as a future agenda
item at WRC-15 (along with 5MHz and other agenda items that affect amateur radio).
The Varna Conference and the IARU-AC also noted how the earlier start to the future-WRC preparation
process had changed in recent years, along with the growing pressures on amateur spectrum, and that
this would feed into Spectrum Strategy.
Region-2: Americas
CITEL - Inter-American Telecommunication Commission
Region-3: Asia-Pacific
APT - Asia Pacific Telecommunity
Channel designation system for VHF/UHF FM channels
Although the FM channels can be referenced by their centre frequency, a numbering/naming system for
FM channels in the 50 MHz, 145 MHz and 435 MHz is recommended (Tel Aviv 1996)
Note: For the microwave bands the "old" numbering system as indicated in the bandplan still is
recommended.
Principle
The system is based upon the following principles:
• For each band, there should be a "designator letter":
1. 51 MHz : F
2. 145 MHz : V
3. 435 MHz : U
• Each designator letter should be followed by two (for 50 and 145 MHz) or three (for 435 MHz)
digits which indicate the channel.
• If a channel is used as a repeater output, its designator should be preceded by the letter "R".
• In the 50 MHz band the channel numbers start at F00 for 51.000 MHz and increment by one for
each 10 kHz.
• In the 145 MHz band the channel numbers start at V00 for 145.000 MHz and increment by one
for each 12.5 kHz.
• In the 435 MHz band the channel numbers start at U000 for 430 MHz and increment by one
for each 12.5 kHz.
Examples
F51 Simplex frequency 51.510 MHz
RF79 Repeater with output frequency 51.790 MHz
V40 Simplex frequency 145.500 MHz (the old S20)
RV48 Repeater with output frequency 145.600 MHz (the old R0)
U280 Simplex frequency 433.500 MHz (the old SU20)
RU002 Repeater with output frequency 430.025 MHz (the old FRU1)
RU242 Repeater with output frequency 433.025 MHz (the old RB1)
RU368 Repeater with output frequency 434.600 MHz (the old RU0)
RU692 Repeater with output frequency 438.650 MHz (the old R70)µ
Notes:
• In the 50 MHz band no FM channels are defined below 51 MHz. (See also footnote e to the 50
MHz bandplan.
• In the 145 MHz band FM channels only exist for the segment with the channel frequencies
145.000 -- 145.800 MHz (the latter channel may be used for a downlink by manned space
stations)
• In the 435 MHz band no FM channels are defined in the segment 432.000 MHz - 433.000 MHz
PART 3
CONTESTING
Objective
The main objectives are to make as many contacts as possible and to have fun. Other objectives may
include improving your operating skills, testing new equipment configurations and techniques, expanding
your horizons by operating on the microwave bands and exploring radio propagation.
Definitions
• Station: set of antennas, transmitters and receivers used during the contest on each frequency band
(i.e. multiband setups are composed of multiple stations).
• Location: geographical area with diameter of no more than 500 meters where the station resides
during the contest.
• Call Sign: identification of the station during the contest. Added prefix and/or suffix do not generate
different call sign (i.e. S50AAA/p or DL/S50AAA are the same call sign as S50AAA).
• Operator: an individual that operates the station during the contest using the station’s call sign.
Operator may reside inside (local operator) or outside (remote operator) the location. During the
contest an operator may operate only stations that form one entry.
• Entries:
o MULTI operator: stations from the same location, operated by more than one operator and
using one callsign on all bands.
o SINGLE operator: stations from the same location, operated by the same operator and using
one callsign on all bands, with no operational assistance of another person during the contest.
o 6 HOURS: stations from the same location, operated by any number of operators and operating
according to the 6 hours’ time rule. The 6 hour time segment can be divided into maximum two
periods. The time of the first QSO sets the start time of the first period. When operating in two
periods, the pause between the periods must be longer than 2 hours. The first time difference of
2 hours or more between two consecutive QSOs marks the pause segment. Only the QSOs
that fall into the combined 6 hour time segment will be counted for points. Participants are
welcome to operate longer than 6 hours and in such case they shall send their complete log
(the contest robot will automatically extract the 6 hours part from the log, while the rest of the
log entries will be used for cross-checking purposes).
o LOW POWER: multi or single operator entries, transmitting with total of up to 100 W PEP from
the transmitter and using only one directional or omnidirectional antenna system. The same
antenna must be used for transmit and receive. Directional antenna system is a single
directional antenna or a group (array) of single directional antennas, grouped together to
achieve maximum obtainable gain in a given direction (that is, all the antennas in the group
shall be pointed in the same direction). Omnidirectional antenna is an antenna with a radiation
pattern that has approximately the same gain in all azimuth directions.
The entrants must operate within the letter and spirit of the contest. Entrants must operate according to the
license conditions of the country where the station resides. Stations operating under special high power
license can only entry as check logs.
Contest sections
The contests shall comprise the following sections for:
50 MHz Contest:
• SINGLE (SO): single operator entries only CW/SSB)
• MULTI (MO): multi operator entries (only CW/SSB)
• 6HOURS (6H): 6 hours entries (only CW/SSB)
• SINGLE (SO-MGM): single operator entries MGM
• MULTI (MO-MGM): multi operator entries MGM
• 6HOURS (6H-MGM): 6 hours entries (MGM)
70 MHz Contest:
• SINGLE (SO): single operator entries (only CW/SSB)
• MULTI (MO): multi operator entries (only CW/SSB)
• SINGLE (SO-MGM): single operator entries MGM
• MULTI (MO-MGM): multi operator entries MGM
145 MHz contest:
• SINGLE (SO): single operator entries.
• MULTI (MO): multi operator entries.
• SINGLE LOW POWER (SO-LP): single operator low power entries.
• MULTI LOW POWER (MO-LP): multi operator low power entries.
• 6HOURS (6H): 6 hours entries.
435 MHz Band:
• SINGLE (SO): single operator entries.
• MULTI (MO): multi operator entries.
• SINGLE LOW POWER (SO-LP): single operator low power entries.
• MULTI LOW POWER (MO-LP): multi operator low power entries.
• 6HOURS (6H): 6 hours entries.
1.3 GHz, 2.4 GHz, 3.4 GHz, 5.7 GHz, 10 GHz bands and for the Millimetre group (the
combined group of amateur bands above 10 GHz):
• SINGLE (SO): single operator entries.
• MULTI (MO): multi operator entries.
Operating
Only one signal on the band is allowed at any time.
Station must operate from the same location throughout the contest time.
Contacts
Each station may only be worked once per band. If a station is worked again on the same band, only one
contact may count for points. Any duplicate contacts should be logged without claim for points and clearly
marked as duplicates.
Contacts made via active repeaters and EME contacts do not count for points.
Competitors are obliged to follow the common definition for a valid QSO (as defined in the VHF Managers
Handbook and replicated below). The contest exchange (call, report, QSO number and locator) shall be
sent and confirmed on the band where the contact started and only during the contact.
No attempt should be made during the QSO or after the contest to obtain any part of the required
exchange information via other communication methods such as the Internet chat channel, WEBDSR and
remote receiver outside 500 metres diameter from the station location, DX Cluster, talk-back on another
amateur band, telephone etc.. Such a secondary method invalidates the contest QSO.
Correction of logged exchanges after the contest, by use of any database, recordings, email or other
method, is not allowed. The log should contain what happened (sent and received) in the band during the
contest.(VGC 2020)
Self-spotting is permitted on all media except the DX Cluster (sending lots of self-spots to chat rooms is
not recommended and is discouraged).
Type of emission
Contacts may be made in A1A(CW), J3E(SSB) or F3E(FM) (G3E(PM)).
MGM (Machine Generated Mode) modes are allowed only during the 50/70 MHz contest. Every MGM
contact shall be properly marked in the LOG with EDI mode code 7.
Contest exchanges
CW, SSB or FM/PM modes
Code numbers exchanged during each contact shall consist of the RS or RST report, followed by a serial
number commencing with 001 for the first contact on each band and increasing by one
Scoring
50 and 70 MHz CW/SSB only, 145 MHz and UHF/Microwave Contests
For the amateur bands up to 10 GHz inclusive, points will be scored on the basis of one point per
kilometre, i.e. the calculated distance in kilometres will be truncated to an integer value and 1 km will be
added. The centre of each locator square is used for distance calculations. In order to make contest scores
comparable, for the conversion from degrees to kilometres a factor of 111.2 should be used when
calculating distances with the aid of the spherical geometry equation.
All QSOs including those with unique stations shall count for points (unique station is a station that
appears in the log of only one contest entrant).
For the combined higher bands (Millimetre group) the score will be the sum of the points scored on each of
the bands, using the following multiplication factors for the number of kilometres scored on each band:
• 24 GHz 1 x
• 47 GHz 2 x
• 76 GHz 3 x
• 122 GHz 4 x
• 134 GHz 8 x
• 245 GHz 10 x
50 and 70 MHz MGM Contests
The points will be scored on the basis of one point per kilometre, i.e. the calculated distance in kilometres
will be truncated to an integer value and 1 km will be added.
The centre of the Large Locator Square (e.g. IO84MM to IO91MM) is used for distance calculations. In
order to make contest scores comparable, for the conversion from degrees to kilometres a factor of 111.2
should be used when calculating distances with the aid of the spherical geometry equation.
A QSO between stations in the same Large Locator Square will count for 50 points.
All QSOs including those with unique stations shall count for points (unique station is a station that
appears in the log of only one contest entrant).
The final score is total kilometres worked multiplied by the number of large Locator Squares (e.g. IO91)
worked.
E.g. 10.000 (total qrb points) x 20 Large Locator Square = Final Score of 200.000 points
Judging of entries
All logs are checked using custom software and human judgement.
The claimed contact shall be disqualified for any error in the information logged by the entrant.
When there is high evidence that the error is due to the wrongly logged information of the transmitting
station (i.e. wrong date/time or call/UL) such a LOG shall not be used for adjudication purposes.
The final judging of the entries shall be the responsibility of the contest organizer whose decision shall be
final.
Entrants deliberately contravening any of these rules, attempting fraud or flagrantly disregarding the IARU
Region 1 band plans shall be disqualified. Each VHF Manager and/or national Contest Committee can
propose to the contest organizer disqualification or penalization of an entrant.
Awards
Section winners:
Certificates will be issued by the contest organizer to the winners of the sections on each band up to 10
GHz and for the Millimetre group.
Millimetre group
Note: SO entries to the 6H section on 435 MHz will be included in the Overall SO classification if the
entries on all bands are SO. MO entries to the 6H section on 435MHz will be included in the Overall MO
classification.
The band multipliers for the overall score are calculated as follows:
• The multiplier for 435 MHz is one.
• The multiplier for each of the other bands is equal to the winning score on the 435 MHz band divided
by the winning score on each band. The multiplier on each band for the SO and MO sections are
determined separately.
• Example:
o Winning score in SO on 435MHz is 200,000 points
o Winning score in SO on 1.3GHz is 20,000 points
o The multiplier for SO on 1.3GHz is 200,000 divided by 20,000 = 10
o So, all scores in SO on 1.3GHz are multiplied by 10 for the Overall SO results table
• The overall millimetre group scores are calculated according to rule 9 before the multiplier for the
millimetre group is calculated.
Repeater: A public (amateur) service that (re)transmits received signals that are intended to be received
by more than one person.
Station: Any person (or group of persons using one call sign) within IARU Region 1 that is able to transmit
and/or receive Amateur Television signals from their own location or remotely, without being a repeater.
No more than one transmitter may be in use at the same time.
Rover station: Any station that is not fixed to one location that moves at least a minimum of five
kilometres. Every time location is changed the moving station should be considered as a new station with
the same call sign. For that reason a new log sheet and four digit code should be used by the moving
station.
Four digit code: Four random chosen digits. The digits shall neither be the same (e.g. 2222) nor
consecutive (e.g. 4567 or 5432).
Contact: Contacts are considered to be valid when a four digit code that is transmitted by another ATV
station is received. Contacts made via repeaters or transponders are not considered as a contact.
IARU locator: The six, eight or ten digits of the Maidenhead locator which is related to the longitude and
latitude coordinates of the actual position of the antennae that are used during the contact.
Log sheet: A log sheet has a format not smaller than A4, containing all information that is needed to judge
the contacts made and claimed points. It consists of a standard cover sheet and data sheets for every
individual band
• A standard cover sheet contains the essential information required to judge the contest entry. The
following information shall be submitted:
o name and address of the (first) operator,
VHF Handbook 9.00 82/180
IARU-R1
o station call sign,
o IARU locator,
o bands used, with the transmitted four-digit code group used for each band,
o claimed score for each band.
The coversheet should show the signature of the (first) operator certifying the correctness of the log(s)
submitted. In case of digital delivery of the log, typed name is the alternative of the signature.
• Data sheets for every individual band containing the following columns in the order named:
- date,
- time in UTC,
- call sign of the station worked/seen,
- report sent: P# report followed by serial number,
- report received: P# report followed by serial number,
- (seen) four digit code,
- IARU locator received,
- number of points claimed.
It is strongly recommended to use the Excel sheet that is developed especially for this purpose (see
Appendix 3B).
Responsibilities
Contestants: Operate within the letter and spirit of the contest and in accordance with their licences of
their country. Stations operating under special high power licenses shall do so "hors concours".
Completion and delivery of the entry
National ATV manager, VHF manager or the National Contest Committee: Judge logs in time, send
the results within four weeks after the contest to the IARU ATV manager.
IARU ATV contest manager: Organize, judge logs in time, issue results within six weeks after the
contest.
Contest
Date of contest: The contest will be held in the second full weekend of June.
Duration of the contest: The contest will commence at 12:00 UTC on the Saturday and will end at 18:00
UTC on the Sunday. It is recommended that the national societies will run their ATV contests at the same
time as the IARU Region 1 ATV contest takes place.
Contacts: For contest scoring purposes a participating station may be worked or viewed only once on
each band. A roving station is considered as a new station, every time it has changed its location.
Scoring. A two-way exchange of the four-digit code group by vision together with the exchange of the
other information shall score:
• for contacts on the 435 MHz band: 2 points/kilometre
• for contacts on the 1.3 GHz band: 4 points/kilometre
• for contacts on higher bands: 10 points/kilometre
If only one station received the four-digit code group, and the other information was exchanged, the scores
for both stations shall be reduced by 50%.
Note: for scoring purposes all valid contacts shall be deemed to have taken place over a distance of at
least 5 kilometres, even if the two stations in contact have the same or adjacent IARU locators.
Entries: The entries must be set out on completed log sheets. A copy of the logs shall be sent to the
national ATV Manager, VHF Manager or the national Contest Committee, not later than the third Monday
following the contest weekend. The submission of the logs implies that the entrant accepts these contest
rules. The logs will be send at atv@iaru-r1.org, they will be forwarded to the organizing society
Judging of entries: The judging of the entries shall be the responsibility of the organizing society, whose
decision shall be final. Entrants deliberately contravening any of these rules or flagrantly disregarding the
IARU Region 1 band plans shall be disqualified. Minor errors may result in loss of points. The claimed
contact will be disqualified for an obviously wrongly stated locator, call sign, code number or a time error of
more than 10 minutes.
Awards: The winner on each band and the overall leading station shall receive a certificate. The
organizing society may also send certificates to all entrants if they wish so.
In order to avoid confusion and improve efficiency, the submission of contest entries shall be no later than
the second Monday after the contest, which is in accordance with the rules approved by IARU Region 1.
(Varna 2014)
Rules
• The normal rules like described in the contest rules of the IARU Region 1 VHF Handbook (Part 3, Section
1) are applicable.
• If participating in the one of the contests in the list in multiple bands, a different log is needed per
band.
• You need to participate on the same band and category on at least all the contests in the calendar
except one.
• The final score is the sum of the points of each contest where the station participated.
Categories:
145 MHz band:
• SINGLE (SO): single operator entries.
• MULTI (MO): multi operator entries.
• SINGLE LOW POWER (SO-LP): single operator low power entries.
• MULTI LOW POWER (MO-LP): multi operator low power entries.
• 6 HOURS (6H): 6 hours entries.
435 MHz band:
• SINGLE (SO): single operator entries.
• MULTI (MO): multi operator entries.
• SINGLE LOW POWER (SO-LP): single operator low power entries.
• MULTI LOW POWER (MO-LP): multi operator low power entries.
• 6 HOURS (6H): 6 hours entries.
1.3 GHz, 2.4 GHz, 3.4 GHz, 5.7 GHz, 10 GHz bands and for the Millimetre group (the
combined group of amateur bands above 10 GHz):
• SINGLE (SO): single operator entries.
• MULTI (MO): multi operator entries.
The aim of the common file format is to make contest log programmers able to deliver a standard output
file from their programs, to enable contest managers to receive logs via data transfer system (e.g.
diskettes, Internet) introduce electronic log processing and ease submission for participants.
What media to use is not specified, and is up to the contest manager. If Internet is a reliable medium it is a
good choice, however, that does not solve yet the legal issue with the responsible operators signature yet
required for IARU Region 1 contests.
When a contest manager invites to a contest she/he should state if electronic log submission is possible, in
what way (e.g. INTERNET) and where (managers E-mail address), just like own mailing address. Contest
managers must have a validation program to make a complete validation including cross checking etc.
Contest participants can use the electronic data file format to submit their logs to the contest manager in
time. To be able to do this, participants must use a contest program capable of generating a REG1TEST
file.
Note: Many logging programmes do not yet accept a non-numeric character for the T part of the report.
Users shall check this according to the recommendation in section.
Electronic Data Interchange - EDI-file format for contests in Region 1 above 30 MHz. This document is the
specification for the Region 1 above 30 MHz contest file formats. Examples for commonly known contests
are shown in the appendix.
The aim is to make contest-log programmers able to deliver a standard (file) format from their programs, to
enable contest managers to receive log data through various types of digital communication systems e.g.
diskettes, e-mail, etc; for electronic evaluation purposes. (Prepared by: Bo Hansen, OZ1FDJ, Søren
Pedersen, OZ1FTU)
Format
[REG1TEST;1]File identifier; file version
TName= Contest name
TDate= Beginning;ending date of contest
PCall= Callsign used
PWWLo= WWL used
PExch= Exchange used
PAdr1= Address line 1 from where the contest took place
PAdr2= Address line 2 from where the contest took place
PSect= Section in which station participates
PBand= Band used during the contest
PClub= Club station where points can be accumulated
RName= Name of responsible operator
RCall= Callsign of responsible operator
RAdr1= Address line 1 of responsible operator
RAdr2= Address line 2 of responsible operator
RPoCo= Postal code of responsible operator
RCity= City of responsible operator
RCoun= Country of responsible operator
RPhon= Phone number of responsible operator
RHBBS= Home BBS of responsible operator
MOpe1= Multi operator line 1
MOpe2= Multi operator line 2
STXEq= TX equipment
SPowe= TX power [W]
SRXEq= RX equipment
SAnte= Antenna
SAntH= Antenna height above ground level [m];height above sea level [m]
CQSOs= Claimed number of valid QSOs;Band multiplier
CQSOP= Claimed number of QSO-points
CWWLs= Claimed number of WWLs;Bonus per each new WWL;WWL multiplier
CWWLB= Claimed number of WWL bonus points
CExcs= Claimed number of Exchanges;Bonus per each new Exchange;Exchange multiplier
CExcB= Claimed number of Exchange bonus points
CDXCs= Claimed number of DXCCs;Bonus per each new DXCC;DXCC multiplier
CDXCB= Claimed number DXCC bonus
CToSc= Claimed total score
CODXC= Call;WWL;distanceBest DX contact
[Remarks]Remarks identifier
Remarks lines
Mode code
The mode code is used to show which modes were used for the QSO. Below is a list of the code with
corresponding modes.
Characters
Used characters are in accordance with the 7-bit ASCII alphabet and only characters with the following
decimal number are allowed 10, 13, 32-127.
Line length
If line length is already specified it must not be exceeded, other lines must not exceed a length of 75
characters. Length is limited due to Packet Radio transferral.
All lines, in the format description, with the "F" denote that entry is a free format. This means that any of
the above characters in the 7-bit ASCII alphabet can be used.
Separator (;)
This separator semicolon (;) is written to separate multiple information on same line.
If the format is used for a contest which does not use some of the QSO exchanges, i.e. QSO no., WWL
and Exchange, these fields are left blank. Proper interpretation must be ensured by manager program.
Faulty QSOs
A duplicate QSO is marked with a "D" in the Duplicate-QSO field, and the QSO-points field is set to 0
(zero). The format does not define when a QSO is a duplicate.
An incomplete QSO is written with the information received, and the QSO-points field is set to zero (0).
In case of a mistake, an error mark must be inserted in the Callsign field to keep a correct flow in the
number of QSOs records. The error mark must be an "ERROR" and the other fields except Time and Sent
QSO no., if used, can be left empty. In case the empty field is accumulated, e.g. QSO-points, it is set to 0
(zero).
QSO numbers
The format does not define in what order the QSO numbers must be listed. It is possible to use the format
to submit logs for contests requiring consecutive numbers for all QSOs, even if they are on different bands.
Missing information
If a contest log program cannot fill in all the information, the missing information can be left blank, except if
information is needed for claiming/calculating scores, e.g. log program cannot identify WWLs, DXCCs etc.
If the information is required for the scores this log program cannot be used for this particular contest
anyway.
The following section describes different EDI-files for various commonly known contest types.
PART 4
OPERATIONAL & TECHNICAL
REFERENCES
OPERATING PROCEDURES
Minimum Requirement for a valid QSO
A definition for a valid QSO on VHF and on higher bands is:-
A valid contact is one where both operators during the contact have
• mutually identified each other
• received a report, and
• received a confirmation of the successful identification and the reception of the report.
It is emphasized that the responsibility always lies with the operator for the integrity of the contact.
Terrestrial signals may often be heard on the VHF bands that are weak and suffering from considerable
fading. It will be helpful in these circumstances to be able to resort to an operating procedure that maximises
the possibility of a contact.
The procedure described here is primarily for CW and SSB contacts although the principle may be
adapted for other communication techniques if required.
The Basis of the Procedure
Imagine that two stations can hear each other but signals are very weak and suffering from considerable
fading. This is often experienced on the 50MHz, 70MHz and 144MHz bands during poor tropospheric
propagation conditions. These two stations may attempt to contact each other but can often be transmitting
(or receiving) at the same time. Therefore the QSO is most likely to fail. Somehow you need to be able to
drop into a timed period mode to enhance the chance of making a QSO. But which station starts the first
timed period?
This may simply be achieved from the way you are beaming your directional antenna.
So, for example, if you hear a station when you are beaming WEST (or NORTH) and *hopefully* the other
station is beaming EAST (or SOUTH) then both stations can drop into a timed sequence because they will
know approximately where the other station is.
Procedure
The weak-signal QSO procedure commences by ascertaining from your beam-heading which station starts
the first 1-minute period.
• If you are beaming SOUTH or EAST you start the first (even) 1-minute period.
For example: 00-01, 02-03, 04-05 ……. and so on 54-55, 56-57, 58-59….
This procedure may also be used for contest contacts by inserting the appropriate contest exchange
requirements within the 1-minute periods.
Mutual interference
Proper adjustment of transmitters will minimise distortion and reduce interference with operators on nearby
frequencies. The correct level of audio setting for the microphone in use is essential for readability and
minimal distortion. Linear amplifiers should be only driven so that they operate in the linear region and in
any case should only be used when propagation conditions require it. Please note that poor receiver
performance with respect to adjacent channel rejection and overload will also limit your effectiveness.
Transmit periods
In order to minimise the overall interference with other stations standard transmit periods are
recommended. Station in central and Western Europe should use second period. All MS operators living in
the same area should, as far as possible, agree to transmit simultaneously in order to avoid mutual
interference.
QSO duration
Every uninterrupted QSO period must be considered as a separate trial. This means that it is not
permissible to break off and then continue the contact at a later time.
Frequencies
Scheduled contacts
These contacts may be arranged on any frequency, taking into consideration the mode and band plan.
Scheduled contacts must not use known popular frequencies and the random MS frequencies. Special
care should be applied on the frequency selection to avoid interference when using reverse transmit
periods according to your location.
Random contacts
The frequency used for CQ calls for random contacts should be according to the IARU Region 1
bandplans.
QSY frequencies for MGM
To avoid -interference, which results from a large number of stations attempting to complete contacts on
the various MS calling frequencies, a QSY method is recommended. During the CQ the caller indicates on
which frequency he/she will listen for a reply and carry out any subsequent QSO. The procedure for
moving a beginning QSO off the calling frequency without losing contact is as follows. If an operator wants
to call CQ the following QSY procedure should be used:
• Select the frequency to be used for a QSO by checking whether it is clear of traffic and QRM.
• In the CQ call, immediately following the letters "CQ", kHz is inserted to indicate the frequency that
will be used for reception when the CQ call finishes.
• During the receiving period the receiver should be tuned to the frequency indicated by the letter
used in the CQ call.
• When the caller receives a signal on the receiving frequency indicated during the call and identifies
the reply as an answer on his CQ, the transmitter is moved to the same receiving frequency and
the whole QSO procedure takes place there.
If an operator instead of calling CQ wishes to listen for a CQ call the following QSY-procedure should be
used:
• Listen on a random contact frequency.
• When a CQ call is received, note the kHz-frequency, which follows the letters "CQ" in the call. From
this find the correct receiving frequency which the calling station will use for receiving replies.
• QSY the transmitter to the receiving frequency, and transmit a reply during the appropriate period.
The format for the reply can be found in section 8.
VHF Handbook 9.00 104/180
IARU-R1
• As the QSO will take place on this frequency, continue to transmit and to listen, during the
appropriate periods, on this frequency. It may be that the station calling CQ will not hear your first
reply, but may do so during one or more subsequent periods. Hence there is no need to return to
the calling frequency.
• The QSY frequencies should take place in the segment according to the IARU Region 1 bandplans.
• MGM, kHz-frequency
Users of MGM indicate the frequency they intend to carry out the QSO by adding the three digits of
the absolute frequency, i.e. the kHz-frequency. For example CQ383 indicates that the station will
listen on 144,383 MHz for a subsequent contact.
Example: G4ASR wishes to try a random MS experiment on MGM and wants to start with calling
CQ. He first checks his receiver in the MGM range of 144,360 MHz to 144,397 MHz and finds a
clear frequency on 144,394 MHz. He calls CQ on 144,370 MHz, and he must now add the kHz-
frequency to his CQ call to indicate on which frequency he intends to listen. In this example he will
therefore call "CQ394" in his CQ call.
Example: Your receive PA2DW who is calling "CQ274" on the 50 MHz random frequency. This
tells you that PA2DW will listen on exactly 50,274 MHz.
• CW/SSB
This proposal does not describe any procedures for QSY operation on CW/SSB anymore.
QSO procedure
All modes use the same MS-QSO procedure.
When attempting random SSB contacts, speak the letters clearly, using phonetics where appropriate.
• Calling
The contact starts with one station calling the other by sending both call signs.
• Reporting system
The report consists of two numbers:
• Reporting procedure
• Confirmation procedure
• As soon as either operator copies both call signs and a report he may start sending a confirmation.
This means that all letters and figures have been correctly received.
The message can be pieced together from fragments received over several bursts and pings, but it
is up to the operator to ensure that it is done correctly and unambiguously. Confirmation is given by
inserting an R before the report.
• When one operator receives a confirmation message, such as "R27", and all required information is
complete he must confirm with a string of R's, inserting his own call sign after at least 3 R’s. When
the other operator has received the R's, the contact is complete and he may respond in the same
manner.
Unacceptable Examples:-
• “I only need the final rogers”
• “470/9”
• “I received a burst from you”
• “I received a burst from you but I cannot decode it”
Usually QSOs made via Airplane reflections is conducted on random frequencies. As a consequence the
callsigns could be eliminated when first copied correctly. For contest purposes you have to add the contest
exchange i.e. the Locator.
Introduction
Rapid Deployment Amateur Radio, often referred to by its acronym RaDAR, is a concept for operating an
amateur radio station anywhere, anytime and even in adverse environmental conditions. This concept
supports the amateur radio service’s emergency communications mandate.
The concept
Rapid deployment and indeed rapid redeployment is what makes RaDAR different otherwise it would be
just the same as all the others nothing different to what has been done for a 100 years.
RaDAR has evolved into something where movements are the highlight. It is therefore more than just
making QSOs, it’s a challenge to decide quickly where and how to set up an effective station, proving it
works by making 5 contacts; packing up making sure nothing is left behind, moving and doing it all over
again.
It’s a different challenge including repeated physical activity. It's also a method of learning, practising and
finding what works and what does not.
Modes of communication
RaDAR promotes the use of voice, digital, CW, HF, point to point VHF and UHF communications and even
satellite communications. The use of terrestrial repeaters is however not allowed, for contest purposes at
least.
Summary
Many looking to practice amateur radio in different ways will see its value and the extreme fun it can be.
The highlight is the “moving” aspect of RaDAR which is what makes RaDAR different to all other amateur
radio activities.
A link will be made on the IARU R1 website to give more information about RaDAR.
Based on Cavtat 2008 recommendation CT08_C5_Rec13, IARU Region-1 is to adopt the APRS
“New n-N Paradigm”, as published by WB4APR
By simplifying the network to only accept “WIDEn-N”, and telling users to limit their “N's” to the minimum
needed for their own area, a vast improvement in reliability and throughput will be achieved in a common
IARU, Region 1 APRS System, and beyond.
ON6TI is to draw up a form of words that will detail this further in a future edition of the VHF Managers’
Handbook
Starting with the launch of Oscar-1 in 1961, amateur satellites have become increasingly sophisticated.
They have provided voice and data links, served school science groups, provided emergency
communications, acted as technology demonstrators, and transmitted Earth images. Construction and
operation of any amateur satellite is subject to a range of ITU, IARU and other regulatory and coordination
procedures.
National VHF/Microwave Managers and Amsat organisations are encouraged to closely coordinate
activities and monitor developments in their countries so that, for example, Cubesat projects are fully
coordinated. Advice is available from IARU Satellite Advisors and Coordinators.
The interim meeting in Vienna propose the formation of a working group within IARU R1 to decide
what changes to the IARU frequency coordination process would guarantee that interested Amateurs have
enough technical information to make a decoder software.
Since the problems addressed in this proposal are not specific to IARU R1, but rather affect the worldwide
Amateur collective, another task of this working group will be to coordinate with the other IARU regions, so
that this matter can be treated in a global basis and a joint effort can be made.
Finally, one other task of the working group should be to inform universities through their national societies
of the concerns and rules for Amateur bands use and to organize a prospective survey of potential satellite
projects to help spread the information.
Note from EC: The proposal addresses small satellites operating in bands allocated to the amateur
satellite service without IARU coordination and encrypted downlink signals in violation of article 25
of the ITU Radio Regulations. This item will be addressed by the IARU Satellite Advisor and the
IARU Satellite Frequency Coordination Panel
A nomenclature has been developed that includes a reference to either the group that built the satellite or
a name that the builders would like assigned to their satellite e.g. UoSAT-OSCAR -22 that was built by the
University of Surrey and Fuji-OSCAR -20 which was built in Japan. For simplicity most Amateur Satellite
names are abbreviated to XX-yy e.g. UoSAT-OSCAR-22 is known as UO-22 and Fuji-OSCAR-20 is known
as FO-20. Most of the Russian-built Amateur Satellites are simply known as RS-yy.
The OSCAR designation is administered by Amsat-NA not IARU. There is no requirement for an OSCAR
number to be assigned to an amateur satellite in order for it to be legitimately recognised and used in the
amateur satellite service. However OSCAR numbers are a proud tradition of amateur radio that should be
supported and continued.
Region I member societies accept the instructions published by the sponsors of amateur -satellites like e.g.
AMSAT as regards the times for operation, output powers that may be employed and the way of operating
through the amateur-satellite, including adherence to the published satellite bandplan.
All possible publicity should be given to satellite bandplans, operating schedules, power limitations on
ground stations etc., together with advice on the necessity of receiver improvement via low-noise
pre-amplifiers and, where applicable, low-angle antennas, in order to enable operators to monitor their own
and other downlink transmissions satisfactorily, thus ensuring that:
• no transmission is started on a frequency already in use
• interference due to doppler effect frequency shift is avoided
• blocking caused by own transmissions can be identified and output power can be reduced
• other stations calling can be heard and identified.
National societies should supervise the implementation of the above recommendations, and take
appropriate action against persistent offenders.
The above recommendations were re-confirmed and strengthened at the IARU Region I Conference in
Miskolc-Tapolca (1978), where the following resolution was adopted:
Publicity, preferably on an annual basis, should be given to the correct ethics and practices for
satellite operation. National societies should investigate the possibility of setting up monitoring
stations for the amateur-satellite service, in order to be able to take direct action against operators
who do not observe the internationally agreed operating rules. It is recommended that national
societies
More recently a more flexible alternative method has been developed where the input (uplink) is always
specified first. A slash is used to separate input and output:-.
When this newer method is used for transponder modes, the older designations become:-
Current Satellites
For current operational information check these sites:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/status.php
http://www.dk3wn.info/satellites.shtml
http://oscar.dcarr.org/
The readability and tone reports are in principle "subjective" but the strength report can be objective as a
simple measurement of the received signal in voltage or power is possible. Such reports are in particular at
the VHF and higher frequencies useful for more precise evaluation of propagation, antenna properties and
receiver sensitivities.
At the IARU Region 1 Conference in Hungary 1978 the need for a harmonised standard for the "S-meter
scale" was expressed and a proposal was accepted for publication in society journals. The essential
recommendation was 1 S-point is 6 dB. At the Brighton Conference in 1981 the recommendation was
formally adopted as a standard for amateur radio equipment manufacturers.
At the 1990 Torremolinos conference an amendment was adopted which reconfirmed the -93 dBm
reference level for frequencies above 144 MHz, but no statement was issued for the bands between 30
and 144 MHz.
Although not explicitly stated the implication of the recommendation is that on VHF and higher frequencies
the S-meter will deviate on the thermal noise only ( S2 in 3 kHz bandwidth, S3 in 12 kHz bandwidth).
Although the recommendation is not too complex it seems to be rather difficult to implement by commercial
manufacturers.
Another matter is the ‘tone’ report. This is a subjective measure. It was important in the ‘old days’ when
rather primitive oscillators were used in the TX. Modern transmitters, even on the millimeter bands, have in
most cases a very good oscillator, resulting in a ‘pure tone’ and a T9 report is generally given.
On VHF and higher, however, the characteristics of the propagation medium can significantly ‘modulate’
the signal (doppler shift, spreading) and a T9 report is not possible. Definitions of tone reports below 9 are
rather vague. At the Region 1 conference 1999 in Lillehammer a recommendation (R.2) has been
accepted to use special letters for signal tone reports when the influence of the propagation is detectable.
Such reports can support propagation studies.
Tone reports
In order to give an indication of distorted tonal quality due to special propagation modes, the 1-9 scale of
the Tonality (T) component of the RST reporting system will be extended with the following:
• "a" For signals distorted by auroral propagation
• "s" For signals distorted by scatter propagation mechanisms
• "m" for signals distorted by multipath propagation.
For example:-
• 599 - Good signal
• 58a - Fairly good Signal via Aurora
• 59s - Good signal via Scatter (e.g. Rainscatter)
Footnotes
• Other letters may be defined in future should the need arise
• This alternative system may be used for any mode e.g. CW, SSB, MGM etc
Readability (% of text)
• R5 95%+ Perfectly readable
• R4 80% Practically no difficulty, occasional missed characters
• R3 40% Considerable difficulty, many missed characters
• R2 20% Occasional words distinguishable
• R1 0% Undecipherable
Strength
• S9 Very strong trace
• S7 Strong trace
• S5 Moderate trace
• S3 Weak trace
• S1 Barely perceptible trace
Quality
• Q9 Clean signal, no visible sidebar pairs
• Q7 One barely visible pair
• Q5 One easily visible pair
• Q3 Multiple visible pairs
• Q1 Splatter over much of the spectrum
Notes:
Non-integer MOS scores like 3.5 are possible. An MOS of 3.0 is generally referred to as toll quality,
meaning good enough to pay for. Digital voice users may tolerate MOS levels less than three if they get
additional benefits, such as simultaneous voice and data services.
While evaluation of voice systems may be made based on test-bench measurements, they must ultimately
relate to the perception of the listener. A large body of voice-system evaluations exists based on MOS.
Comparisons among systems are therefore readily made. MOS relates well to the readability figures
commonly used in Amateur Radio signal reports.
Background
The IARU Locator system was defined in 1980 as a World-wide system for radio amateurs to quote their
location with sufficient accuracy for practical purposes using a simple alphanumeric scheme related to
latitude and longitude The initial specification called for a 6-charac-ter code which could define a station’s
location to a squaroid(4) of approximately 4,6 km each side at mid latitudes. The resulting positional
accuracy was therefore around 3 km. This was deemed adequate for VHF contest scoring purposes. For
lower resolution, for example at HF, a larger squaroid using just four characters would suffice. Even with
six digits, it can prove to be inadequate for microwave usage and thus extensions have come into use.
The Locator first divides the latitude/longitude into large ‘squaroids’ of 10 degrees of latitude and 20
degrees of longitude. There are 18 of these subdivisions for lat and long; each are allocated a letter of the
alphabet from A to R.
The first letter of the Locator corresponds to the 20-degree longitude squaroid starting from the antipodal
line of +/-180 degrees and counting round the world in units of 20°. Therefore 20 degrees WEST of
Greenwich would be the ninth division and gets the letter ‘I’
The second character of the locator defines the large squaroid of latitude, counting up from the South Pole
up to the North Pole. A latitude of 50 degrees North therefore corresponds to 14 up from the pole and
equates to the letter ‘0’
Each 20 x 10 degree squaroid is then subdivided into 10, measured conventionally from left to right for
longitude and bottom to top for latitude. The pair of numbers from 0 to 9 corresponding to this division are
appended to the locator as characters 3 and 4 for long / lat respectively. For example, the squaroid whose
lower left corner lies at 2° West and 50° North becomes IO90. This four-character format is the lowest
resolution used in practice and at mid latitudes gives a positional accuracy of very roughly 80 km, which is
usually sufficient for most HF use.
4 The term ‘Squaroid’ has been used throughout this document in place of the incor-rectly used locator ‘square.’ The
small subdivisions of lat/long are three-dimensional projections on a spheroid and are neither square, nor have their
sides straight, nor at right angles. On a Mercator map projection, they may appear rectangular, and at 60 degrees’
latitude, may even appear square but this is only an artefact of the projec-tion in use. The term ‘squaroid’ removes
this ambiguity
VHF Handbook 9.00 118/180
IARU-R1
For VHF and up these large squaroids are subdivided into 24 x 24 “sub-squares”, with dimensions 5 x 2.5
minutes of arc for longitude/latitude respectively. Again, counting left to right and bottom to top, they are
allocated the letters A to X. For example, IO90IV therefore corresponds to the squaroid whose lower left
corner sits at 1 degree 20 minutes West and 50 degrees 52.5 minutes North. This six character format
represents a positional accuracy of around 3 km at mid latitudes(5)
The original 1980 definition also allowed for a further subdivision into 10 “small squares” of 0.5’ x 0.25’ for
roughly 300 metres positioning accuracy. These appear as another pair of numbers, for example
IO90IV58. Eight digit locators started to be used amongst some microwave operators in the 1990s for dish
bearing calculations where the normal six-digit format was not accurate enough. It also allowed more
accurate distance calculations on short microwave paths. Eight characters can also be useful for defining
the location of microwave propagation beacons.
Unfortunately, not everyone has adopted this definition; some software is believed to use the lower left
corner. In addition, where locators are quoted to different resolutions, 4, 6 or 8 characters; which ‘middle’
should be used?
Previous to the introduction of the IARU locator, the old QRA used a scheme where its last letter was
traditionally spelt in lower case, eg ZM41f. Despite the definition in the VHF Hand-book specifying capital
letters, this has carried over into common usage with the ‘new’ six-digit locator. So, people often write
IO90iv instead of the original intended IO90IV. The use of lower case for characters 5 and 6 then extended
into many popular software packages.
It is also opportune to clarify how the system converges to a single point at the North and South Poles.
The majority of schemes in use subdivide the 8 character squaroid into 24 further ‘micro-squares’ each of
0,5/24 and 0,25/24 minutes of arc (1,25 x 0,625 seconds of arc) and append these as another pair of
letters, A-X, to make a 10-digit locator; for example, IO90IV58AH. The resulting accuracy of a position so-
defined is now about 13 metres.
Several manufacturers of GPS handhelds have used IARU locator as a display option. Several software
packages, many interfacing to Google maps, also adopt the 10 character locators. All software packages
that have been verified so far use the sub-divisions described above.
However, at least one manufacturer of GPS receivers that have IARU locator as a display op-tion has used
a 25 x 25 division with letters A-Y for the final pair (possibly to gain a squaroid of 0,02 x 0,01 minutes of
arc). Some have also added a yet another pair of numbers, for 1 metre accuracy.
5 The system converges to a point at the geographic poles. The origin at the South pole is therefore AA00AA00AA.
The squaroids at the North and South Poles locations are of zero “width” as the longitude lines have all converged
there
VHF Handbook 9.00 119/180
IARU-R1
Mapping and Accuracy
At one time, every country had its own mapping of latitude/longitude due to adopting a localised spheroid
model of the Earth’s shape. For example, the mainland UK adopted the GBR36 spheroid. This typically
leads to errors of a few hundreds of metres when compared with a lat/long mapping extended from
another country. The few-kilometres accuracy of the original six-character locator meant that whatever
local mapping was in use, any such error would go unnoticed.
However, the GPS system needs a uniform mapping so the world-wide WGS84 standard has now been
adopted as an international standard. To make use of higher resolution locators on a world-wide basis, a
similar universal spheroid has to be used for all stations.
At the Lausanne conference in 1953 (this is really the oldest technical recommendation of Region 1 ) the
helical antenna thread direction was laid down. Why that was done at the time is unclear, but 30 years
later (Cefalu 1984 ) the EME community felt a need for the definition of circular polarisation for EME
contacts. 12 years later, however, it was recommended to use for EME above 3 GHz linear polarisation for
the time being.
As using circular polarisation appears to have advantages for repeater stations the matter may come up
again at future conferences.
Definitions
• Ping: Reflection from an underdense meteor trail.
• Burst: Reflection from an overdense meteor trail.
Background:
Radio Amateurs have used the term "ping" to describe a ‘short’ reflection. Most of the European operators
define "ping" as a reflection too short to pass information. This definition was most likely evolved in the
1970's, when high speed CW (then < 600 LPM) gained popularity in Europe. With the less efficient
equipment used those days, the shorter reflections were either too short to pass full characters due to slow
speed and/or too weak to decode with the equipment available at that time.
Some operators define "ping" as a reflection from an underdense meteor trail and "burst" as a reflection
from an overdense trail. This is also how ‘ping’ and ‘burst’ are described in The VHF/UHF DX Book
(published by RSGB). Generally it can be said that most good reflections come from overdense trails and
short/less usable reflections (pings) from underdense trails. Overdense and underdense reflections can be
roughly separated by duration of the reflection (reference 1).
The principal difference of underdense and overdense trail is the mechanism that re-emits RF-energy. On
underdense trails the RF-energy penetrates the trail and makes electrons oscillate and re-radiate energy,
while on overdense trails, no penetration occurs and the trail is modelled as a metallic cylinder reflecting
RF-energy. When receiving meteor reflections the audible differences are found in signal strength, duration
and decaying shape.
CW speeds used in MS have increased since 1970's by about four times and new digital equipment (i.e.
DTR) make copying useful information from a weak reflection now much more easier. The old way of
defining a ping has thus become invalid and does have serious lack of logic by definition, while the
underdense/overdense division is based on well-known and studied physical facts, as described in
scientific literature.
It would also be extremely useful, if MS working results published i.e. in DUBUS were of scientific use.
Such working results could be used by people like OH5IY, who are doing scientific research on meteor
scatter. QSO information in DUBUS contains the number of pings and bursts of every contact. This
information is of little use, however, if ping is understood as a reflection with no information, thus
depending on speed used. Instead, if ping is defined as an underdense reflection this kind of information
would be of great value. The relative number of underdense and overdense reflections could be compared
between different showers and between consecutive hours in the same shower. This would provide us
new knowledge of meteor showers and sporadic meteors.
Underdense and overdense reflections can be roughly separated by duration of the reflection (which varies
by frequency). The threshold is not sharp, but a simple approximation can be made. On 50 MHz
overdense trail durations are typically greater than 0.5 s (reference 1) and maximum underdense trail
durations approximately 0.5-1 s (reference 2).
In the following table a 1 s reflection on 50 MHz has been taken as upper limit for the underdense trails.
3)
Durations for other frequencies have been derived from it according to the following formula (reference
Where t = duration in seconds,
f = frequency in MHz
This table corresponds well with the situation as presently encountered on the popular 144 MHz band. For
example, a reflection on 145 MHz with the speed of 1000 LPM containing up to two letters when decoded
would be a ping. On the 435 MHz band pings are so short in duration (less than 0.013s) as to be almost
impossible to detect.
References:
1. The evolution of meteor burst communications system, P.S. Cannon & A.P.C Reed,
Journal of the Institution of Electronic and Radio Engineers, Vol. 57. No.
3, pp 101-112, May/June 1987.
2. J.A.Weitzen & al., An Estimate of the Capacity of the Meteor Burst Channel,
IEEE Transactions on Communications, Vol.Com-32, No.8. August 1984.
3. W.T. Ralston & al. Distribution of underdense meteor trail durations and
duty cycle and applications to meteor scatter communication system design.
Radio Science, Volume 28, Number 5, pp 747-757, September-October 1993
Between 1963 and 1969 the gradual introduction of VFO controlled SSB, replacing AM(x-tal controlled),
was taking place on VHF. At the same time, however, the problems with LF break-through in radio, TV and
audio equipment became embarrassing. Using FM and PM appeared to be the right solution in this case.
Of course the recently acquired habit of VFO control and co-channel working was used with FM as well.
In order for an efficient use of FM it appeared necessary to agree upon a few basic parameters which
would determine the optimum filter to be used in the receiver. A 12 kHz receiver bandwidth was finally
chosen. This appeared to be the minimum value giving distinctly better quality than 6 kHz AM without
showing too much of a threshold effect (at least not much more than conventional AM). Soon after the
recommendation had been adopted several manufacturers of crystal-filters marketed 12 kHz wide filters.
Almost 30 years later this basic recommendation still is in force, although VFO controlled FM has almost
disappeared (it still is used with rain-scatter on microwaves) and the majority of amateurs use crystal-
controlled FM transceivers with filters wider than 12 kHz, thus loosing several dB's in communications
efficiency.
It must be noted that the application of the recommendation is not limited to frequencies above
30 MHz. It equally well applies to the 29 MHz band, although it appears that FM on that band is often
received with filters narrower than 12 kHz.
Three years later, at the 1972 Scheveningen conference, a more detailed standard, largely based upon the
first was adapted, but this time VFO control appeared to be out of fashion and the standard dealt with
"Fixed channel FM stations". The audio response was specified more in detail as
300-3000 Hz with a 12 dB/octave fall off outside this band and 6 dB/octave pre-emphasis.
It appears sensible to combine those two recommendations into a single one at a future conference.
In order to make the planning of repeaters using the same channel easier a maximum ERP of 15 Watts
was recommended. As, however, the antenna height above the surroundings was not specified this ERP
limit is not sufficient for the planning, but no additions have been made to this recommendation.
The major flaw of the recommendation is the lack of any explicit specification of the receiver bandwidth.
Had the receiver parameters been defined compatible with the transmitter definition (some people think
this is implicit) some difficulties in a few countries with the introduction of a 12.5 kHz channel spacing
system would never have been arisen.
697 1 2 3 4
770 4 5 6 B
852 7 8 9 C
941 * 0 # D
The increase in digital modes should be facilitated where possible by reviewing and relaxing Bandwidth
restrictions that may have their origins in classical analogue modes (CW, SSB etc) – and may now impede
new data modes.
The use of computing/automation can however undermine the criteria for valid QSOs for Contests, Awards
etc. The IARU-R1 QSO definition should still be respected.
The Conference endorses the views expressed in documents 90/TS/C3.50 and 90/TS/C.53 on the
undesirability of spreading of inappropriate messages via Packet-Radio Bulletin Board Systems and
would extend this view to any use of the amateur bands which contravenes the definitions of the
Amateur Service and Amateur Satellite Service.
You will find document 90/TS/C3.53 contained the IARU Administrative Council Resolution 87-2 (revised in
1989) in chapter 6.6.
Document 90/TS/C3.50 was a paper submitted by ARI, which with regard to messages having
inappropriate content in essence expressed the same views as AC Resolution 87-2.
At its meeting in Bandung, October 1991, the IARU Administrative Council re-considered the matter of
inappropriate traffic via Packet Radio, and drafted an additional Resolution 91-1. At its meeting in Vienna,
March 1992, the IARU Region 1 VHF/UHF/Microwaves Committee decided to recommend the immediate
introduction of this Resolution as interim Region 1 policy. This was accepted by the IARU Region 1
Executive Council at its meeting in Budapest, April 1992, and later ratified by the IARU Region 1
Conference in De Haan (1993). The AC Resolution 91-1 is attached as chapter 6.7.
Recognising the problems caused by the handling by amateur stations of communications having
inappropriate content, particularly with regard to business and commercial matters
Recognising the impact on other users of the crowded spectrum from unattended store and forward
("mailbox") stations, and further recognising that the problem of controlling the content of amateur
radiocommunication is made more difficult by the availability of such stations,
Resolves that the Administrative Council affirms the action taken at its Buenos Aires meeting, in
urging member societies to emphasize to their members the importance of adhering to the spirit and
intentions of the ITU Radio Regulations, and of handling only that traffic which does conform; and
further
Resolves that member societies are hereby urged to acquaint their members as to the undesirable
aspects of the uncontrolled proliferation of unattended store and forward ("mailbox") stations.
Considering the growing popularity of packet radio for the relaying of messages between radio
amateurs,
Recognizing that a medium as effective as packet radio can invite abuse through the introduction of
traffic that is inappropriate to the Amateur Service internationally,
Noting Resolution 87-2 (revised 1989) which urges adherence to the spirit and intentions of the ITU
Radio Regulations in handling traffic, and calls attention to the undesirable aspects of the
uncontrolled proliferation of unattended store-and-forward "mailbox" stations,
Resolves that the attached "Guidelines for Packet Radio Operators" and "Guidelines for Packet
Radio Bulletin Board Operators" first adopted at the Region 3 Conference, Bandung, October 1991,
shall be distributed to IARU member-societies worldwide with the request that they be shared with
the amateurs of each country, and
further resolves that future IARU regional conferences are invited to suggest improvements to these
guidelines so they will continue to be representative of good amateur radio operating practices as
these practices evolve over time.
The IARU Region-1 VHF/Microwave Committee (C5) recommends that in order to underpin an exciting
future for amateur data communications that the IARU Administrative Council considers the draft paper
from Region 1 and provides support for obtaining an IPv6 allocation for global amateur radio.
As beacons are often heard at very low signal levels, together with spurious signals, it is important the
message is simple, unambiguous and repeated frequently. It is also necessary to have a period without
information (“carrier”) for frequency checking purposes and signal strength measurement; and also to
make it easy to distinguish the frequency when using F1A.
• For a coordinated beacon, the only essential information in the beacon message is the callsign.
The locator or other information is not essential
• The callsign should be sent in plain CW at least once per minute, not exceeding 60 characters per
minute
• Beacons should include a period of plain carrier of approximately 20-30s, sufficient for frequency
checking purposes.
• For mixed mode beacons, the MGM mode should start on the even minute, whilst the odd minute
includes the plain carrier period. Effort should be made to ensure good timing accuracy of the
even/odd minutes.
• It may be helpful to indicate a forthcoming change of mode by a short CW symbol (such as an ‘S’ or
‘X’)
• For beacons that are MGM only (which should only be exceptions to the other recommendations)
then the message should be MGM at the start, followed by the CW ID within a minute period.
Examples of these (with approximate message lengths) are illustrated below:- Simple 30 & 60 second
Messages
CW ID Carrie
r
0s 30s
0s 30 60s
MGM Mixed Mode (these are examples and can be change to suit the MGM mode deployed – Varna
2014)
MGM CW- Carrier ‘X’ Other CW-ID
ID
0s 30 60s 90 120s
0s 60s
0s 60s
MGM
MGM CW-
ID
0s 60s
Operation
• Operation should be 24 hour continuous.
• If beacons change parameters during the transmission this must be reflected in the message
transmitted.
• IARU Region-1 encourages best practice for both timing/frequency accuracy and phase noise to
enhance general performance for the benefit of all.
• That development of new modes optimised for beacons are encouraged, which may either
enhance DX reception or permit more efficient equipment (and thus lower electricity costs) to
enhance sustainability
• That National Societies and IARU-R1 coordinators be kept updated on such developments.
Should MGM be implemented on a beacon, a standard 1kHz tuning offset should be adopted as per the
example in the diagram.
In any given frequency band, the specific MGM selection should have regard to the beacon frequency
spacing and MGM bandwidth
Status
It is important that the operational parameters and the status of each beacon are widely known. The
information should be sent to the IARU Region 1 VHF beacon coordinator via the local beacon
Regarding propagation, amateur contributions during the first years of radio in the 'world below 200 metres'
are, of course, well-known, as are, for instance, the pioneering efforts of the "amateur" Grote Reber in the
field of radio-astronomy. Those were the early days, but also in more recent times amateurs have made
considerable contributions in the field of scientific investigations. To mention a few examples:
• in the fifties several research institutes in Western Europe carried out tropo-scatter research in
close co-operation with an extensive network of amateur observer stations;
• fundamental work was and is done by amateurs in the definition and study of the TE
(Trans-Equatorial) propagation mode of VHF radio-waves;
• during the IGY (International Geophysical Year), amateurs supported various propagation research
projects initiated by the Max Planck Institute in Katlenburg/Lindau as well as by other scientific
institutes.
The important facts which enable amateurs to make valuable contributions to propagation research are:
• world-wide there are almost no regions which are not covered by amateurs. If effectively organised,
amateurs constitute an extensive network of observation points that an official research institute
could hardly afford to set up;
• amateurs are enthusiastic in the disciplines they pursue, are often on the bands for extended periods
of time - pushing the various propagation modes to their limits! - and in many cases, are in
possession of high-performance, individually-calibrated pieces of transmitting/receiving equipment.
IARU Region I fully recognizes the importance of this type of work in the Amateur Service, and at the IARU
Region 1 Conference in Warsaw (1975) the following general recommendation was adopted:
• Groups of amateurs shall be organised to carry out scientific observations regarding all forms of
radio propagation, including
1. ionospheric
2. tropospheric
3. space.
• These groups are recommended to co-operate closely with RSGB, DARC, REF and any other
societies which have a proper organisation for handling scientific data and co-operating with scientific
institutes.
• It is also recommended that the results of such observations be published in the journals of member
societies and/or scientific journals.
Currently, in the international field, amateurs are involved in long-term studies of tropospheric and auroral
propagation modes, long range ionospheric high MUF studies and the study of the characteristics of
moonbounce and meteor-scatter techniques.
Furthermore, studies are carried out on the effects of micro (local) climate on space communications and,
in particular, on microwave band communications during adverse weather conditions like e.g. heavy rain,
which can enhance signals considerably.
The above is certainly not an exhaustive summary; on the contrary, the list of scientific activities in which
amateurs participate is expanding all the time.
Sporadic-E investigations
At the IARU region 1 Conference in Warsaw (1975) REF proposed to start on two projects:
• a study of long distance VHF propagation with the aid of beacons to be set up in the southern part
of Europe
• a study of sporadic-E activity over the North Atlantic area, particularly on the amateur bands 28
MHz and 50 MHz.
Both projects were accepted at the final Plenary Meeting of this Conference, and the work of supervising
these projects was entrusted to Serge Canivenc, F8SH, who was nominated as IARU Region 1
Coordinator for sporadic-E investigations.
The following recommendations concerning the above projects were adopted at the IARU Region 1
Conference at Warsaw (1975):
Sporadic-E investigations: that the proposal to establish beacon stations in southern Europe, as
described in document WA58 (with the exception that the radiated power should preferably be
limited to 50 W) be adopted. Proposals for beacons should be submitted through member societies
to the IARU Region 1 Sporadic-E Coordinator Mr. Serge Canivenc, F8SH.
Transatlantic Sporadic-E investigations: that the proposals set out in document WA59 be adopted in order
to promote an investigation of Sporadic-E propagation in the North Atlantic area. It is also recommended
that Region 2 be invited by Region 1 to encourage their member societies to set up, for the purpose of the
investigation, beacon stations in the 50 MHz band, e.g.in Canada and in the U.S.A. Region 1 societies
should then establish an observation network in consultation with Mr. Serge Canivenc, F8SH, the IARU
Region 1 Sporadic-E Coordinator. Region 2 is invited to join the programme and to publicise the contents
of document WA59.
On the basis of the above recommendations, F8SH extended his activities and started a programme for
the investigation of VHF wave propagation via Field Aligned Irregularities (FAI). This phenomenon was
discovered by amateurs in southern Europe in the 70's. They noticed that stations contacted during
sporadic-E openings were often on a quite different bearing from the one corresponding to the normal
great-circle path.
F8SH fulfilled the function of IARU Region 1 Sporadic-E Coordinator till July 1988 when he suddenly
passed away. His excellent work, his many publications and his highly appreciated representation of the
Amateur Service in the CCIR Interim Working Party 6/8 dealing with anomalous VHF ionospheric
propagation will be remembered with gratitude.
Auroral propagation
At the IARU Region I Conference in Warsaw (1975) the RSGB, via their Propagation Studies Committee,
proposed to standardize auroral reporting by amateurs throughout Region I, so that the greatest use can
be made of these reports for scientific studies.
At the final Plenary Meeting of the Conference this proposal was adopted, and Charlie Newton, G2FKZ,
was nominated as IARU Region 1 Coordinator for Auroral Studies.
The following recommendation relating to the auroral project was adopted at the IARU Region 1
Conference in Warsaw (1975):
VHF Auroral Propagation: that the proposals set out in document WA32 (regarding the
standardisation of auroral reporting) be adopted by member societies and that member societies
publicise the reporting forms contained therein.
In 1993 G2FKZ resigned, and the IARU Region 1 Conference in De Haan (September 1993) nominated as
his successor Vaino Lehtoranta, OH2LX (address in section If)
Five IARU Region 1 propagation reports were submitted to CCIR study groups via F8SH, the former IARU
Region 1 Sporadic-E Studies Coordinator, and, where appropriate, the attention of CCIR study groups has
been and is drawn to the results of amateur investigations/observations which could be used fruitfully in
their studies.
In all this work close co-operation with the existing Coordinators and/or coordinating institutes is strongly
recommended. As already indicated, for publications member societies can obtain information at the
addresses given above.
This type of work can open a whole new field of extremely interesting activities for amateurs!
To mention a few examples:
• Now that in some European Region 1 countries the 50 MHz band has been opened for amateur
use, every effort should be made to increase the number of beacons and observation stations on
this band, where many propagation modes can be studied, including modes such as back-scatter
meteor trails, and, at suitable solar times, high M.U.F. propagation. As this band is not yet
universally available for the Amateur Service, listening stations can play an important role here!
• VHF Managers/Contest Committees etc. should be aware of the possibility of using contest logs for
the derivation of data useful for scientific studies. These logs often contain a wealth of data
covering a wide geographical area, providing detailed information, particularly on tropospheric
propagation, that could not be obtained in any other way. This is an excellent illustration of the main
strength of the Amateur Service: the mass of observation stations!
Reporting forms (log sheets), used in the various projects and showing the data that preferably should be
gathered by the participants, as well as the necessary information and instructions are obtainable from the
addresses given above.
Some reporting forms already in use are appended to this section, together with some examples of
information sheets accompanying these reporting forms.
Propagation database
At the IARU Region 1 Conference 1999 in Lillehammer the offer of Michael Kastelic, OE1MCU, was
accepted to create a easily accessible database for the collection and distribution of amateur reports.
Appendix Sample reporting forms and information sheets ( nov 96)
The following recommendation was adopted at the IARU Region I Conference in Opatija (1966):
In principle all QSO's via a translator system shall be in a special class and shall not be eligible for
inclusion in normal Countries Worked lists or for DX-record awards. A special list for translator
QSO's shall be established.
Each year the IARU Region I record table as well as the national record table should be published in
the national amateur radio magazine, accompanied by a request to the readers for submitting
necessary changes. Claimed records should be carefully checked. For instance, for tropo records
check the weather map for the day in question, for sporadic-E records check the time of the year and
the time of day and, if possible, compare the claim with reports on other QSO's made during the
opening. It has occurred that long meteor- scatter bursts were taken for a short sporadic-E opening!
Be also aware of the possibility that 28, 21 or 14 MHz QSO's may mistakenly be reported as 145 MHz
QSO's by stations using transverter systems. Check whether QSL cards have been exchanged.
Please note that records are only established for different propagation modes, and that the Region I
list does not deal with different transmission modes (CW, SSB etc.) or with "firsts". From the above
it is clear that a sound record table can only be established in close co-operation with all national
VHF and Microwave Managers or Committees.
At the IARU Region I Sub Working Group in Vienna 2013, OZ1FF, was elected as the successor of
SM7NZB .
DX Records Coordinator
OZ1FF
Kjeld Bülow Thomsen
kjeld@oz1ff.dk
PART 5
HISTORICAL DATA
LIST OF CHANGES
Version 9.00
• Update VHF managers list
• Decisions from the VGC Novi Sad 2020 added
Version 8.50 (Interim meeting Vienna 2019)
• Update VHF managers list
• Defending our bands: 50 MHz and from 1GHz to 10 GHz
• European table of frequency allocation
• Adjusting the 435MHz, 1.2GHZ 2.3GHz, 3.4GHz band plan
• Additional band plans for 8 and 5m band in Ireland
• Financing the contest robot
• Satellites transmitting in our bands without permission
• Principles for digital transmissions
• Digital voice coordination
Version 8.12
• Alternative lay-out and partition from handbook 8.02
Version 8.02
• New contest rules added (2018)
Version 8.01
• Typo’s
Version 8.00
• Complete review of the handbook
• Decisions from Landshut 2017 added
Version 7.51
• Editing bandplan 144 and 434 MHz
• Footnote 70 MHz
Version 7.50
• Update VHF managers list
• Delete some footnotes in the 144 MHz band plan
• Adjusting 5 GHz band plan
• 5.2.2 is not for ATV
• 5.3.11: monitoring stations
• 5.3.10 major edit
• 5.3.6: adding examples
• 5.3.8: exchanges outside R1
• 5.3.2: 6H contest category
• Added guidelines foor the PSect in the EDI files
• Rules for the contest robots
• Contest organizers
• Winners will be published on te IARU-R1 website
• Delete all WSPR frequencies
Version 6.14
• Update VHF manager list
Version 6.01
• Update VHF manager list
• Minor errors fixed
At the meeting of the Executive Committee of IARU Region 1, held on 28 October 1967, the above
recommendations were approved with minor alterations.
At the IARU Region 1 Conference in Noordwijkerhout (1987) a completely re-written IARU Region 1
Constitution was adopted. As a consequence the VHF Committee and the VHF Working Group were
transformed into a so-called Specialised (Permanent) Body, the IARU Region 1 VHF/UHF/Microwaves
Committee, with the same terms of reference as the previously existing VHF Committee c.q. Working
Group.
In these basic documents the whole structure as well as the working procedures of IARU Region 1 and the
IARU can be found. Consequently, this is recommended reading!
1950 Paris
1953 Lausanne
1956 Stresa
1958 Bad Godesberg
1960 Folkestone
1963 Malmo
1966 Opatija
1969 Brussels
1972 Scheveningen
1975 Warsaw
1978 Miskolc Tapolca
1981 Brighton
1984 Cefalu
1987 Noordwijkerhout
1990 Torremolinos
1993 De Haan
1996 Tel Aviv (Israel)
1999 Lillehammer (Norway)
2002 San Marino
2005 Davos (Switzerland)
2008 Cavtat (Croatia)
2011 Sun City (South Africa)
2014 Varna (Bulgaria)
2017 Landshut (Germany)
2020 Virtual General Conference (due to COVID-19, should be held in Novi Sad, Servia)
Regarding the allocation of bands to the Amateur Services the following recommendation was adopted at
the IARU Region I Conference in Cefalu (1984):
As a few authorities in the European part of Region I have allowed some amateur activity in the 50
MHz part of the spectrum, societies are urged to again approach their P & T authorities with the aim
of obtaining an allocation or assignment preferably between 50 and 55 MHz. In view of the TV activity
still present in this part of the spectrum, in the first instance permission may be sought for operation
outside TV broadcast hours, e.g. for experimental purposes for a selected number of stations.
A further recommendation regarding the 50 MHz band was adopted at the meeting of the IARU Region 1
VHF/UHF/Microwaves Committee in Vienna, March 1992, and accepted as interim IARU Region 1 policy
by the IARU Region 1 Executive Committee at their meeting in Budapest, April 1992. This
recommendation was ratified at the IARU Region 1 Conference in De Haan (1993) and reads:
All IARU Region 1 member societies in countries where the Amateur Service is currently not
permitted to use the 50 MHz band shall endeavour to obtain such a permission in the 50 - 54 MHz
band. This permission should preferably be permanent and under the same conditions as valid for
the normal licences. In order to obtain a common IARU Region 1 band, the allocation band obtained
should at least contain the frequency segment 50 - 50.5 MHz.
At the meeting of the IARU Region 1 VHF/UHF/Microwaves Committee in Düsseldorf (1989) the following
recommendation regarding the shared microwave bands was adopted and a few weeks later approved as
interim IARU Region 1 policy by the IARU Region 1 Executive Committee at their meeting in Torremolinos,
April 1989. The IARU Region 1 Conference at Torremolinos, April 1990, ratified this recommendation:
IARU and IARU Region 1 should maintain their basic policy of trying to retain all wideband secondary
allocations in the Microwave bands.
Note. This IARU policy is clearly set out in paper C3.35, submitted to the IARU Region 1 Conference
at De Haan (1993) by the International Secretariat of IARU. At this Conference the paper (see 1.3.1.)
was adopted by IARU Region 1.
However, IARU and IARU Region 1 should also endeavour to convince Administrations that in all countries
the same small region-wide common segments - in the order of 2 MHz wide - should be allocated to the
Amateur Service, as commonality is a practical necessity for international amateur activities.
N.B. Already at the IARU Region 1 Conference in Noordwijkerhout (April 1987) IARU Region 1 nominated
a VHF/UHF/Microwave Frequency Allocation Coordinator (see section Id). His terms of reference include
carrying out the work mentioned above in behalf of IARU Region 1.
At the WARC in Torremolinos (1990) the status of the Mobile Service in the frequency segment
2300 - 2450 MHz was upgraded to Primary (see Frequency Allocation Tables). The Mobile Service and the
Amateur Services must be considered to be practically incompatible, as far as the use of frequencies is
concerned. Hence IARU Region 1 is making vigorous efforts - via approaches by member societies to
Administrations, as well as indirect approaches to, for instance, the CEPT - to get a reasonable and
common part of this frequency segment de facto or de jure exclusively allocated to the Amateur Service.
Currently amateurs in 4X, 5B, 9A, OH, OK, OZ and PA have got access to 3400-3410 MHz in addition to
the (ITU footnote) allocations in Bulgaria, Norway, Poland, Germany, Slovenia and Great Britain.
The CEPT discussions about the spectrum 29.7 - 960 MHz have not yet finished in 1996 and in particular
the 430-440 MHz amateur allocation, which in several Region 1 countries already is smaller or of a lower
status, is under attack. At the IARU Region 1 VHF/UHF/Microwaves committee meeting in Vienna 1995
the thread to the 435 MHz band was taken seriously and all member societies in the CEPT countries were
urged to lobby for retention of the "full allocation".
At the IARU Administrative Council (AC) meeting in Bandung, October 1991, the misuse of amateur bands
was discussed, i.e. the use of these bands for purposes which have nothing to do with the Amateur
Services by, for instance, research institutes, groups of people interested in forwarding technical
information in aid of developing countries etc. - sometimes with the permission of the pertaining
Administration!
Resolution 91-1 was drafted, which set out procedures aimed at giving the regional IARU organisations
more possibilities for taking action in defence of the interests of the Amateur Services.
At the meeting of the IARU Region 1 VHF/UHF/Microwaves Committee in Vienna (March 1992) the
following recommendation was adopted, which in April 1992 was approved by the IARU Region 1
Executive Committee at their meeting in Budapest, and later ratified by the IARU Region 1 Conference in
De Haan (1993):
Resolution 91-1 of the IARU Administrative Council is recommended for immediate adoption as
interim IARU Region 1 policy until ratification by the next Region 1 Conference.
Deleted functions
Frequency allocations coordinator
It is been decided in Landshut that this function is redundant and it is deleted
At the IARU Region 1 Conference at Noordwijkerhout (April 1987) the final Plenary Session adopted a
proposal from Committee B (now, under the new IARU Region 1 Constitution, the VHF/UHF/Microwaves
Committee) to nominate a VHF/UHF/Microwaves Frequency Allocation Coordinator.
The task of the Coordinator can be summarized as follows:
Collect information from Region 1 member societies about the specific VHF/UHF/Microwaves
frequency allocations to the Amateur (Satellite) Service in their countries
To use the information obtained for the creation of a survey of deviations from the allocations to the
Amateur (Satellite) Service as found in the ITU frequency table, and to publish this information
regularly in the VHF Newsletter and/or the Region 1 News.
To make proposals for a coordinated approach of the licensing authorities in the various countries of
Region 1 by member societies with the aim of obtaining common frequency allocations, especially
in the shared Microwaves bands.
N.B. In their recommendation to the Plenary Session Committee B considered this point to be most
urgent in view of the fact that in various countries the authorities were already allocating segments
of shared bands to the various Services without any form of co-ordination as far as the Amateur
(Satellite) Service was concerned.
To provide, in as far as possible, the Committees and Working Groups of the CEPT and the OIRT with
background material on the IARU and IARU Region 1 standpoints with regard to UHF/Microwaves
frequency allocations to the Amateur (Satellite) Service. In matters of policy the
VHF/UHF/Microwaves Frequency Allocation Coordinator will work in close consultation with the
Chairman of the IARU Region 1 VHF/UHF/Microwaves Committee and the Executive Committee of
IARU Region 1.
The VHF/UHF/Microwaves Frequency Allocation Coordinator will submit reports on actions taken, results
obtained and future plans to the IARU Region 1 VHF/UHF/Microwaves Committee for consideration at
their meetings during IARU Region 1 Conferences or in between Conferences. At the final Plenary
VHF Handbook 9.00 149/180
IARU-R1
Session of the IARU Region 1 Conference at Noordwijkerhout (April 1987) Arie Dogterom, PA0EZ, was
nominated as VHF/UHF/Microwaves Frequency Allocation Coordinator. At the meeting of the
VHF/UHF/Microwaves Committee in Vienna (February 1995) John Morris, GM4ANB, was nominated as
his successor. At the 1999 Conference in Lillehammer GM4ANB stepped down. PA0EZ temporarily took
over. In April 2000 Heinz-Günter Böttcher, DK2NH, accepted this post.
All Region 1 member societies are urgently requested to send all relevant information such as
(updates on) the national frequency allocations to the Amateur (Satellite) Service in the bands above
50 MHz
approaches to the national authorities and results of discussions with the national authorities on the
subject of frequency allocations above 50 MHz to the IARU Region 1 VHF/UHF/Microwaves
Frequency Allocation Coordinator. His address is given on page If of this handbook.
Note. The recommendation of Committee B adopted by the final Plenary Session of the IARU Region 1
Conference in Noordwijkerhout (April 1987) contained the following statement:
It is intended that copies of the results of the survey of Region 1 VHF/UHF/Microwaves frequency
allocations be supplied to Regions 2 and 3 of IARU with a request for similar information, so that
world-wide co-ordination can be obtained, especially with regard to satellite and EME
communication.
The Plenary Session agreed with this suggestion, stipulating that this should be done via the IARU Region
1 Secretariat.
At the IARU Region 1 Conference in Torremolinos (April 1990) Resolution 89-2, proposed by the
Administrative Council and concerning the desirability of common frequency allocations on
VHF/UHF/Microwaves in view of international working using modes such as moonbounce, meteor scatter
etc., was adopted with a slight change in the wording. As ratified by Region 1 the recommendation reads
as follows:
Member societies should work to establish and/or maintain common frequency allocations for the
Amateur Service and the Amateur Satellite Service to enable international working and facilitate
bandplanning. Resolution 89-2 was drafted by the Administrative Council at its meeting in Orlando,
September 1989, and, obviously, fits in seamlessly with the work already started by IARU Region at
the Noordwijkerhout Conference (April 1987).
Database keeper
The work of the propagation coordinators very much being dependant of the availability of data from
amateur observations, the VHF/UHF/MW Committee at its meeting in Lillehammer 1999 decided that a
common database, easily accessible for amateurs and organized in such a form that data analysis would
be made relatively easy, should be set up.
The person responsible for setting up and maintaining this database will work in close cooperation with the
propagation coordinators. The access to the database and the required information will be published in the
Region 1 Newsletter, the Region 1 VHF Newsletter and the Internet
The main Region 2 & 3 6m beacons are included in the list in italics for completeness. Thanks to G3USF,
the IARU HF beacon coordinator for these. All inputs are welcome and should be sent to the address
below.
You are free to use information from this beacon list but please acknowledge IARU Region 1 and
G0RDI.
Iain Philipps G0RDI
IARU Region 1 VHF Beacon Coordinator
24 Acres End
Amersham
Buckinghamshire HP7 9DZ England
Email: g0rdi@77hz.com
Phone: +44 1494 432144
At the IARU Region 1 Conference in Tel Aviv (1996) the bandplan was slightly amended in order to reflect
practical experiences. The IARU Region-1 conference in Sun City (2011) further revised this.
At the IARU Region 1 Conference in San Marino (2002) it appeared that a significant number of DXCC
countries ( e.g. EI, G, GD, GI, GJ, GM, GU, GW, S5, ZB, ZS, 5B4, ZC4 ) had got access to the
70 MHz band and it was decided to add the bandplan for that band.
Regarding amateur-satellite bandplans, the following was decided at the IARU Region 1 Conference in
Warsaw (1975):
That IARU Region 1 adopts the bandplans recommended by the sponsors of each satellite system,
e.g. by AMSAT for OSCAR-7, but also informs sponsors that such bandplans must be kept simple
and that in the opinion of IARU Region 1 in each case provisions should be made to segregate
Telegraphy from telephony.
The currently valid satellite bands, together with some data on amateur satellites, can be found in the
amateur satellite chapter.
The appearance of manned space stations with an amateur station on board has led to the allocation of
FM channel frequencies. In Vienna 1995 the former 145.200/145.800 MHz frequency pair was allocated.
The following general recommendations regarding the promotion of bandplans have been
adopted/re-affirmed at various IARU Region 1 Conferences:
• VHF Managers should give maximum publicity to the adopted bandplans. In view of the many
newcomers, regular repetition of the publication of the bandplans is advisable.
• Member Societies, and particularly their VHF Managers or VHF Committees, should strongly
promote adherence to the adopted bandplans by all VHF/UHF/Microwaves amateurs in their
country.
It will be noted in the following bandplans that the accommodation of the narrow-band modes in several
bands is quite similar and is modelled after the plans for the 145 MHz band which existed before the 1996
Tel Aviv conference.
At the Conference in San Marino it was decided to change the basic set-up of the bandplan.
Till then the bandplans show two columns (plus a column for the frequency segments):
IARU Region 1 bandplan Usage
The left column designation is self-explanatory. The right column contains meeting/calling frequencies,
agreed upon for the convenience of the VHF/UHF/Microwave amateurs practising specific modes of
communication. These frequencies are not part of the adopted IARU Region 1 bandplan and, though in the
normal amateur spirit other operators should take notice of these agreements, no right on reserved
frequencies can be derived from a mention in the right-hand column.
The San Marino conference started to change this, beginning with the 50 MHz and 145 MHz bands. The
other bands to follow at a later moment. In this new planning there are three columns:
maximum bandwidth Mode Usage
The maximum bandwidth determines the maximum spectral width ( -6 dB points) of all emissions allowed
in a segment.
The mode indicates the modulation methods ( e.g. telegraphy, telephony, MGM, etc) allowed in a
segment. M(achine) G(enerated) M(ode) indicates those transmission modes relying fully on computer
processing such as RTTY, AMTOR, PSK31, FSK441 and the like.
The usage column indicates the main usage (sometimes country dependant) of a segment. In case only
one application is allowed, the word ‘exclusive’ is added.
The allocation of frequency segments to the various modes of operation in the IARU Region 1 bandplans
is subject to the following condition:
The allocation of sub-bands in the IARU Region 1 bandplans allows the indicated category of users to
employ any frequency within that sub-band, provided that no appreciable energy falls outside that
sub-band. Users must therefore take into account the bandwidth of their sidebands when selecting an
operating frequency. (de Haan, 1993)
Organisation
IARU Region 1 has organised official international contests on the VHF/UHF/Microwaves bands since
1956, when an all-band contest during the first weekend of September was established.
In 1962 a separate UHF/Microwaves contest was added, which was initially held during the last weekend
of May (decision Turin, 1961). From 1970 onwards this date was set at the first weekend of October
(Brussels, 1969). The millimetre group was introduced during the meeting of the VHF Working Group in
Vienna, March1986, with the aim of promoting the use of these Amateur Service bands. In October 1987
this extended rule was applied for the first time.
As of 1970 an SWL contest was established, to be run concurrently with the official Region 1 VHF and
UHF/Microwaves contests. The conference in DAVOS (2005) decided to discontinue the Region 1
VHF/UHF/Microwaves SWL contest.
During the IARU Region 1 Conference in Scheveningen (1972) it was decided that as of 1973 the
September contest would only be held on 145 MHz.
At the IARU Region 1 Conference in Noordwijkerhout (1987) an IARU Region 1 ATV contest was added,
to be held during the second weekend of September.
Finally, at the IARU Region 1 Conference in De Haan (1993) an official 50 MHz contest was established,
to be held as from 1994 during the first weekend of June. In San Marino 2002 the date was changed into
the third weekend of June.
Hence, currently four official IARU Region 1 contests are organised annually:
• The 50 MHz and 70 MHz (Varna 2014) contest during the third weekend of June.
• The VHF contest during the first weekend of September - only on 145 MHz;
• The UHF/Microwaves contest during the first weekend of October on 435 MHz and higher bands;
• The ATV contest during the second weekend of June;
Member societies of IARU Region 1 organise and judge the results of the above contests. The procedures
for the organisation of the 50MHz, 145MHz and UHF/Microwaves contests are set out in chapter 3. The list
of the organizing societies can be found in Annex 1
The IARU Region 1 ATV contest is organized and judged by a member society in a country where ATV
transmissions are authorized.
The rules for the official Region 1 contests are set out in PART 1 chapter 2 (50MHz, 145MHz, UHF,
Microwaves), and chapter 3 (ATV).
Attention is drawn to the fact that since 1974 during the first weekend of November the Italian member
society ARI organises the Marconi-Memorial Telegraphy contest as an international contest for the whole
Procedure
Untill 2016 all contests were organised in the following procedure.
Information
In January of each year the Chairman of the VHF/UHF/Microwaves Committee shall send a letter to the
societies organising the IARU Region 1 VHF, UHF/Microwaves, 50/70 MHz and ATV contests in that year,
containing an up-to-date copy of the rules for these contests.
Organisation
The IARU-R1 contest robot will be used for contest evaluation for all CW/phone contests. The contest
robot is not used for ATV contests. (Vienna 2016)
The logs should be submitted either to:
• National robot or VHF Manager or to the properly nominated Contest Committee
• Uploaded directly to IARU R1 contest robot in case there is no national possibility (method a.
above).
• The final evaluation is the responsibility of the organizing society. (Varna 2014)
Timing
• The VHF Manager or the properly nominated Contest Committee should upload the logs to the
IARU R1 robot no later than second Sunday after the contest.
• Preliminary cross checked results shall be published not later than third Sunday after the contest.
• Not later than the fifth Sunday after the contest the national VHF Manager or properly nominated
Contest Committee shall validate the entrants of their own society.
• Stations operating temporarily outside their “home-country” are for the purpose of the contest
participating as stations in the country where they operate.
• The organising society will publish the final results not later than fourteenth Sunday after the
contest on IARU R1 robot web site.
The list of results should include at least the following data: call sign, Locator, score, number of
QSOs, number of deleted QSOs, percentage of deleted points, ODX call sign, ODX Locator and
ODX QRB.
Number of unique QSOs for every contest entrant should be included in the published contest
results.
• These results shall also be published in electronic format at least on the IARU R1 web page.
• The entrants scoring highest in each section will be awarded the IARU REGION 1 AWARD. The
organising society will receive the certificates from the chairman of the C5 committee (signed by
the R1 secretary) and will send those after having filled in the relevant data and after signature to
the winners in each section.
Certificates for all participants will be provided by mail directly from the contest robot. (Varna 2014)
• The DARC will host the ceremony during the yearly HAM radio in Friedrichshafen for the first 3
stations in each category. The prices will be sponsored by the organizing society. (Vienna 16)
At the IARU Region 1 Conference in Brussels (1969) it was agreed that the sub-regional contest during the
first weekend of November shall be a Telegraphy contest, run according to the rules of the official Region 1
contests. Since 1974 ARI has organised the Marconi Memorial Telegraphy contest during this weekend
and has invited all Region 1 amateurs to participate.
Furthermore, at the IARU Region 1 Conference in Cefalu (1984) it was agreed that
• Sub-regional contests on the coordinated dates shall be all-band events, 145 MHz through 240
GHz.
On this basis in many countries member societies of IARU Region 1 organise national contests during the
first weekends of March, May, July, September, October and November, whereby the September and
October national contests are run concurrently with the IARU Region 1 contests on these weekends.
In view of the fact that in an appreciable number of countries the 50 MHz band had become available to
the Amateur Service, the meeting of the IARU Region 1 VHF/UHF/Microwaves Committee in Vienna,
March 1992, adopted the following recommendation:
• From 1993 national societies are encouraged to establish 50 MHz sections in the sub-regional
contests.
This recommendation was approved by the Executive Committee of Region 1 at their meeting in April
1992, and ratified by the 1993 IARU Region 1 Conference.
National VHF Managers or properly nominated Contest Committees should send the electronic contest log
data entries from IARU R1 contests to a special web page to allow an exchange of logs for more accurate
national evaluation. (Cavtat 2008). At present time http://hamradio.pl/sp7njx/index.php is in use.
Microwave contest
At the IARU Region 1 Conference in Scheveningen (1972) it was agreed that National societies shall
organise sub-regional contests on the microwave (1.3 GHz and higher) bands during the third weekend of
June.
At the IARU Region 1 Conference in Noordwijkerhout (1987) it was decided that from 1988 onwards the
sub-regional microwave contests will take place on the first weekend of June.
During the IARU Region 1 Conference in Landshut(2017) it was decided that the 3.4 GHz band will be
accepted as a contest band.
If the Locator-Bonus is used, we expect to see growing activities in the "outskirts" of Europe, where it is
low, dying or completely dead now. This is due to the fact that contest activity in central Europe is so high
nowadays, that any good station can work "local" stations for most of the contest period. Only during the
night there appears to be time to work "DX" to the remote areas.
Currently these remote stations, when participating in the contests, only work a limited number of stations
during the first hours of a contest and thereafter quickly go QRT.
If the "remote" stations would get more attention by being more "attractive" (bonus points), they will,
undoubtedly, also become more active and we may expect a positive development in the contest activity.
After discussion in Committee B it was decided to recommend that this system be tried out in national
contests.
The following bonus system was mentioned as a starting point for the experiments:
For each new locator square worked
• on the 145 MHz and 435 MHz bands: 1000 points
• on the microwave bands: 300 points
At the same meeting in The Hague, through the good offices of VERON, the IARU Region 1 VHF trophy
was donated by NEAL Crystals Ltd. At that time the only Region 1 contest was an all-band event held
during the first weekend of September. It was decided that as of 1959 the Trophy would be awarded to the
highest scorer on 145 MHz in this contest, irrespective of the category (section).
As could be expected, in most cases this was a station competing in the portable category, section 2. To
remedy this situation, at the Region 1 Conference in Folkestone (1961) PZK donated the PZK Trophy, to
be awarded to the station in the other category (section) on 145 MHz from 1961 onwards.
The awarding procedure could, of course, lead to a switching of the Trophies between sections, depending
on whether a home or a portable station had scored highest. Hence, in order to simplify matters, as of
1966 the Region 1 VHF Trophy has been awarded to the winner in section 1 and the PZK Trophy to the
winner in section 2 on 145 MHz.
When in 1973, at the VHF Working Group meeting in Baunatal, it was decided to organise the Region 1
September contest only on 145 MHz, nothing had to be changed in the awarding of the Trophies.
At the Region 1 Conference in Malmö (1963) I1XD, VHF Manager of ARI, offered the Vittoria Alata Cup
to be awarded to the highest scorer in the Region 1 UHF/Microwaves contest, irrespective of the section
the winner would compete in. In 1966, at the Conference in Opatija, I1XD donated a second Vittoria
Alata Cup, and as of that year the Vittoria Alata Cup I has been awarded to the winner in section 1 on
435 MHz, and the Vittoria Alata Cup II to the winner in section 2 on 435 MHz.
At the IARU Region 1 Conference in Miskolc-Tapolca (1978) the station categories (sections) were
changed to
• section 1: stations operated by a single operator, with no assistance during the contest, using
privately owned equipment and antennas and operating from any location
• section 2: all other entrants
The system for awarding the Trophies to the winners in the various sections in the 144 MHz and the 435
MHz bands was maintained.
At the IARU Region 1 Conference in Torremolinos (April 1990) the Chairman of the
VHF/UHF/Microwaves Committee had to announce that diligent efforts to trace the whereabouts of these
Trophies has met with no success.
During the last decades the Trophies had never been sent to the winners, as in the past difficulties had
been experienced with custom duties etc., but the winners only received a special certificate. The IARU
Region 1 Trophy and the PZK Trophy were probably retained by early winners, though this is by no means
sure. The Vittoria Alata Cups have always been in the possession of I1XD, ( who did send the winners a
photograph of the cup with the call-sign engraved ) but could not be found by his family after his demise.
At the IARU Region 1 Conference in Torremolinos (April 1990) it was decided to remove the Challenge
Trophies from the contest rules. In case new Trophies would be donated, it was agreed that these would
be retained at the IARU Region 1 Secretariat, and that only special certificates with pictures of the donated
Trophies would be sent to the various winners.
The contestants must operate within the letter and spirit of the contest and at no greater power than permitted
in the ordinary licenses of their country. Stations operating under special high power licenses do so "hors
concours" and cannot be placed in the contest proper.
Contest sections
The contests shall comprise the following sections for each band from 50 MHz to 10 GHz and for the
Millimetre group (the combined group of amateur bands above 10 GHz):
• Section SINGLE: stations operated by a single operator, with no operational assistance of another
person during the contest.
• Section MULTI: stations operated by multiple operators
• Section SINGLE – LOW POWER: stations operated by a single operator, with no operational
assistance of another person during the contest, transmitting with less than 100 W PEP and using
single directional antenna (with only one radiating element - i.e. 9 element Yagi or 4 element loop) for
transmit and receive (144 MHz only).
• Section MULTI – LOW POWER: stations operated by multiple operators transmitting with less than
100 W PEP and using single directional antenna (with only one radiating element - i.e. 9 element Yagi
or 4 element loop) for transmit and receive (144 MHz only).
• Section 6 HOURS SINGLE: stations operated by a single operator, with no operational assistance of
another person during the contest (144 MHz and 432 MHz only).
• Section 6 HOURS MULTI: stations operated by a multiple operators (144 MHz and 432 MHz only).
UHF/Microwaves Contest:
The contests shall comprise the following sections for:
• 435 MHz band:
o SINGLE (SO): single operator entries.
o MULTI (MO): multi operator entries.
o SINGLE LOW POWER (SO-LP): single operator low power entries.
o MULTI LOW POWER (MO-LP): multi operator low power entries.
o 6HOURS (6H): 6 hours entries.
• 1.3 GHz, 2.4 GHz, 3.4 GHz, 5.7 GHz, 10 GHz bands and for the Millimetre group (the combined
group of amateur bands above 10 GHz):
o SINGLE (SO): single operator entries.
o MULTI (MO): multi operator entries.
Participants are welcome to operate longer than 6 hours and in such case they shall send their complete
log (the contest robot will automatically extract the 6 hours part from the log, while the rest of the log
entries will be used for cross-checking purposes). (Vienna 2016).
Operating
• No more than one transmitter per band may be in use at any one time.
• A participating station must operate from the same location throughout the event.
• All the equipment of the station (transmitters, receivers and antennas, etc) must be located within a
single circle of no greater than 500 metres diameter.
The operator may reside outside the station’s area (“remote station”), connected to the station via a “remote
control terminal”. In such a case, the Locator for the contest is the Locator of the station’s position. An
operator may only operate one single station, regardless if it is locally or remotely operated, during the same
event.
Date of contests
• The 50/70 MHz contest will begin on the third Saturday of June.
• The 145 MHz contest will start on the first Saturday of September.
• The UHF/Microwave contest will start on the first Saturday of October.
Duration of contests
The contest will commence at 1400 hours UTC on the Saturday and end at 1400 hours UTC on the
Sunday.
Contacts
Each station may only be worked once per band, whether it is fixed, portable or mobile. If a station is
worked again during the same contest on the same band, only one contact may count for points, but any
duplicate contacts should be logged without claim for points and clearly marked as duplicates.
Contacts made via active repeaters and EME contacts do not count for points.
Competitors are obliged to follow the common definition for a valid QSO (described in the PART 1 section
4.1). The contest exchange (call, report, QSO number and locator) shall be sent and confirmed on the
band where the contact started and only during the QSO. No attempt should be made during the QSO to
obtain any part of the required exchange information via other communication methods such as the
Internet chat channel, DX Cluster, talk-back on another amateur band, telephone etc.. Such a secondary
method invalidates the contest QSO. Self-spotting (advertising its own frequency) on any other
communication means, like DX Cluster, chat rooms, etc. shall not be used during the contest. (Varna
2014)
Contest exchanges
Code numbers exchanged during each contact shall consist of the RS, RST or RSQ(MGM mode) report,
followed by a serial number commencing with 001 for the first contact on each band and increasing by one
for each successive contact on that band. This exchange must immediately be followed by the complete
Locator of the sending station (examples: 59003 JO20DB or 579123 IN55CC).
For contact on 50 MHz, outside of Region 1, the locator can be 4 digits and “MM” will be added as 5th and
6th digit. (Vienna 2016)
Note: for the “T” part of the report, PART 3 section 2.1.2. For the “Q” part of the report, see PART 3
section 2.2
Until 2020:
Contest exchanges
Code numbers exchanged during each contact shall consist of the RS, RST or RSQ (MGM mode) report,
followed by a serial number commencing with 001 for the first contact on each band and increasing by one
for each successive contact on that band. This exchange must immediately be followed by the complete
locator of the sending station (examples: 59003 JO20DB or 579123 IN55CC).
Call signs logged must be the same as those exchanged over the air by the entrants during the QSO.
For contacts on 50 MHz, outside of Region 1, the received locator can be 4 digits and “MM” will be added
as 5th and 6th digit.
Correction of logged exchanges after the contest, by use of any database, recordings, email or other
method, is not allowed.
Scoring
For the amateur bands up to 10 GHz inclusive, points will be scored on the basis of one point per
kilometre, i.e. the calculated distance in kilometres will be truncated to an integer value and 1 km will be
added.
The centre of each locator square is used for distance calculations.
In case that only a 4-character locator has been received, the contact is invalid; except (50 MHz outside
Region 1, see 2.9)
In order to make contest scores comparable, for the conversion from degrees to kilometres a factor of 111.2
should be used when calculating distances with the aid of the spherical geometry equation (Noordwijkerhout,
1987).
All QSOs including unique QSOs shall count for points even if they only appear in the log of one contest
entrant (Varna 2014)
For the combined higher bands (Millimetre group) the score will be the sum of the points scored on each of
the bands, using the following multiplication factors for the number of kilometres scored on each band:
• 24 GHz 1x
• 47 GHz 2x
• 75/80 GHz 3x
• 122 GHz 4x
• 134 GHz 8x
Entries
The entries must be set out in digital/electronic form fulfilling the requirements under rule 5.3.13. Logs shall
be sent according to rule 5.2.3 not later than the second Monday following the contest weekend. Late
entries will be accepted as check logs. By submitting the contest or check log, an entrant agrees that he /
she has:
• understood the contest rules and agrees to be bound by them,
• operated according to all the rules and regulations that pertain to his and/or station license,
• agreed the cross-checked log may be made open to the public, except for the personal data in PAdr1,
PAdr2, RName, RAdr1, RAdr2, RPoCo, RCity, RCoun, RPhon and RHBBS lines of EDI file format,
• accept all decisions of the organizing society (contest organizer) as final.
(Vienna 2016)
Judging of entries
The final judging of the entries shall be the responsibility of the organising society, whose decision shall be
final. Entrants deliberately contravening any of these rules, attempting fraud or flagrantly disregarding the
IARU Region 1 bandplans shall be disqualified.
Each VHF Manager and/or national Contest Committee shall be responsible for monitoring during
contests. Additional monitoring stations may be appointedThe national VHF Manager/Contest Committee
is responsible for disqualification based upon the results of monitoring. The claimed contact shall be
disqualified for any error in the information logged by the station.
Any error in the exchanged information logged by a station is liable to result in the loss of all points for that
contact, subject to review and confirmation by the contest organiser.
The final judging of the entries shall be the responsibility of the organising society, whose decision shall be
final. Entrants deliberately contravening any of these rules, attempting fraud or flagrantly is regarding the
IARU Region 1 band plans shall be disqualified.
Each VHF Manager and/or national Contest Committee can propose to the contest organizer
disqualification or penalization of an entrant. The claimed contact shall be disqualified for any error in the
information logged by the station.
Any error in the exchanged information logged by a station is liable to result in the loss of all points for that
contact, subject to review and confirmation by the contest organiser.
The claimed contact shall be disqualified for any error in the information logged by the station. When there
is high evidence that the error is due to the wrongly logged information of the transmitting station (i.e.
wrong date/time or call/UL) such a LOG shall not be used for adjudication purposes.
Awards
• Section winners:
Logs
The logs shall be in the format defined in PART 3 Section 5
Please visit also the IARU Contest robot: iaru.oevsv.at
Note that the report of 26 is the default – this would be amended to the actual report prior to transmission
of Tx2 or Tx3; once sent it should not be altered during the remainder of the QSO.
The GM4VVX sends a message to the ON4KST chat room such as:
Notes:
• The example QSO above assumes that G8BCG copies both call-signs first – if GM4VVX copies both calls
before receiving a report from G8BCG, he responds with Tx2, and so on (roles reversed). Reports such
Many Region 1 societies developed maps based on this system, either of their own country or of larger
parts of Western Europe.
At a meeting of the Region 1 VHF Working Group in Brussels (1965) Dr. H.R.Lauber, HB9RG, VHF
Manager of USKA, showed the first prints of the Region 1 QRA-Locator map, issued on four sheets and
made through his good offices at the request of the VHF Working Group.
At the Region 1 Conference in Opatija (1966) this map was adopted as the official Region 1 QRA-Locator
map, while at the Region 1 Conference in Scheveningen the system was re-baptised with the more
appropriate name QTH-Locator. In the meantime it had become very popular and was used not only during
contests but also for general amateur work on the VHF/UHF/SHF bands. For instance, collecting "squares"
(the first two letters of the QTH-Locator indicating a square of 2 degrees longitude wide and 1 degree
latitude high) became one of the most widely practised sports .
When amateurs outside Region I, especially in North America (Region II), became interested in using a
form of QTH-Locator during their contacts, contests etc. and started investigating the system devised in
Region I, they found this Locator system repeated itself several times around the globe. Hence they
considered this ambiguous system not very suitable for exchanging QTH information, for instance during
EME contacts.
Furthermore, the QTH- Locator system was not very consistent in the set-up of sub-divisions, particularly
with regard to the fifth character (letter). A more consistent system, if introduced, would be of use to the
many amateurs who employed computers - from PC's to programmable pocket calculators - to calculate
distances and determine antenna directions from QTH-Locators.
For reasons like the ones outlined above, at a meeting of the IARU Region 1 VHF Working Group in
Amsterdam (1976) SM5AGM, VHF Manager of SSA, proposed to start discussions on a better Locator
system that could replace the existing one and would be usable world-wide.
As there would not be much sense in changing to a world-wide applicable Locator system in Region 1 if
the other Regions would not adopt it, at the Region 1 Conference in Miskolc-Tapolca (1978) it was agreed
that Region 1 would consult the other two Regions on this matter. This consultation resulted in an
exchange of system proposals between the Regions, and at a certain moment more than 20 different
systems and variations on systems, generated in the various Regions, were under consideration!
At the VHF Working Group meeting in Maidenhead (1980) it was felt that the time had come to make a
choice, and it was agreed that the best choice would be the system devised by John Morris, G4ANB, be it
with a modification concerning the starting point of the grid of the first sub-division. This system was widely
published in amateur magazines of member societies in Region 1 as well as in the other Regions.
Thanks to the effort of Folke Rasvall, SM5AGM - aided, amongst others, by ZL2AMJ (Region III) and
W1XX (Region II) - agreement between the Regions could be reached and all Regions have now accepted
the so-called Maidenhead Locator which henceforth will simply be known as the Locator.
Region II adopted the Locator in 1982, Region III in 1983. At the IARU Region 1 Conference in Cefalu
(1984) Region 1 adopted the Locator system, and the introduction date was set at January 1, 1986. As
from this date all official Region 1 contests are run using the new Locator system.
The system is set up as follows. The globe is divided in 18 * 18 = 324 fields, each 20 degrees longitude
wide and 10 degrees latitude high. Each of these fields is divided in 10 * 10 = 100 squares, each 2
degrees longitude wide and 1 degree latitude high. Finally, each of the squares is divided in 24 * 24 = 576
sub-squares, each 5 minutes longitude wide and 2.5 minutes latitude wide. The coding/numbering is, as
shown in Appendix 2, always from west to east and from south to north, and the origin of the system is at
180 degrees west, 90 degrees south.
As far as "squares" are concerned, the system is compatible with the old QTH-Locator system, both having
squares of 2 degrees longitude, 1 degree latitude. The only difference, of course, is in the coding; for
instance, square CM in the QTH-Locator system will in the Locator system be square JO22. Consequently,
for the collectors of "squares" continuity is assured.
At the 1999 Conference in Lillehammer it was decided that a more precise definition of Alongitude@ and
Alatitude@ was required. The conference decided that the latitude and longitude to be used as a reference
for the determining of locators should be
This proposal is important, because it thereby establishes the necessary link of the World-Wide
Maidenhead Locator system with an international geodetic system.
The latitude and longitude system of the Earth must be linked to a ‘zero point’. This point may be called a
geodetic center point. There are many such points in use; by cities, countries, continents, and for the
whole world. These Azero points@ are usually not coincidental. Therefore it is important to establish which
geodetic system the Maidenhead Locator System should be linked to.
When using a map or a GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) receiver to determine a Maidenhead Locator, it
is possible to have the map or the GPS receiver calculate the locator on the basis of many different
geodetic systems. In Europe the most commonly geodetic system used up to recent time has been the
European Datum of 1950, called ED-50.
The few last year’s more and more maps use their latitude and longitude linked to the newer world-wide
geodetic system World Geodetic System 1984, called WGS-84.
6 Packet-Radio : It is recognised that in the future higher data rates will be achievable through the use of different modulation
methods. It is recommended, however, that in all cases for the frequencies used for communication between the user and a
network access point the bandwidth should not exceed 12 kHz. For links between packet-radio nodes higher data rates and
larger bandwidths may be used. For such high speed links ( greater than 1200 bit/s ) FM/AFSK is not preferred
Notes
• A video filter having a -3 dB bandwidth of 5 MHz should be included in the modulating amplifier.
• A video peak clipper should be included after the pre-emphasis but before the video filter.
• DC clamping of the video signal should be included to prevent the nominal carrier frequency from
changing with different television scenes.
• An RF output filter should be included to prevent out of band energy from whatever source from
reaching the aerial system.
• When it is necessary to reduce the transmitted bandwidth on frequencies >24.0 GHz below that
shown above the sound carrier should be reduced in level or be removed altogether.
Symbol Rate
Frequency Band Maximum Bandwidth
(Msymbols/s)
1.3 GHz
4.00 4 MHz
Repeater o/p
Notes:
• To facilitate development, other modes and bandwidths may be used where conditions permit.
• The bandwidths in the table above are recommended maximums. Development of narrower
bandwidths are strongly encouraged as equipment allows
• DATV operators should ensure they transmit ‘clean’ signals in order to avoid adjacent channel
interference. Particular attention is recommended regarding power amplifier linearity and the
transmitted output spectrum
• Other frequency bands are permitted if the bandwidth is compatible. Any ATV operation should
avoid interference to narrowband frequency centres in the relevant band plan
• Established and/or open standards, along with a subset of Operating and frequency planning
parameters, should be adopted to:
o Ensure interoperability between DATV operators
o Ensure compatibility with readily available consumer hardware